Aunt Leah's
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
A
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Average
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
73%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 73 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Aunt Leah's:
Aunt Leah’s is a 5-star charity. It has above average disclosure with an A results reporting grade. It holds reserves within Ci’s reasonable range. For every dollar donated to Aunt Leah’s, 73 cents are available to go to the cause.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 100 Rated Charity.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 5 Impact: Vancouver Charities.
Founded in 1988 by Gale Stewart, Aunt Leah's Place helps former foster youth avoid homelessness and supports vulnerable young mothers in keeping custody of their children. The charity operates in British Columbia and houses clients at seven residential charity-owned homes. It also runs education, employment, and life skills programs, and provides mental health counselling and bursaries for post-secondary study.
The charity reports that 50% of youths who age out of foster care in B.C. experience homelessness within two years. Indigenous youths bear a disproportionate share of this burden, making up 60% of those who age out despite representing just 6% of B.C.'s population. The consequences persist into adulthood: 32% of homeless people surveyed in Vancouver's 2020 Homeless Count had a connection to foster care.
Aunt Leah’s runs four programs: Housing, Education, Resource Centre and Employment. It spent $4.5m on its programs in the fiscal year ending March 2025 (F2025).
Housing is Aunt Leah’s largest program, accounting for 86% of program spending in F2025. Aunt Leah's operates several housing streams: Lale Houses (shared homes for youths leaving care), Thresholds (homes and suites for mothers and their children), and Support Link (independent living coaching for youths still in government care). It also helps clients find and maintain housing in the community and administers rent subsidies funded by BC Housing and Reaching Home Canada. In F2025, Aunt Leah's housed 136 people and distributed 74 rent subsidies totalling $324,812.
Education accounted for 6% of program spending in F2025. Aunt Leah's helps clients complete high school, navigate post-secondary options, and access financial support for further study. Staff provide one-on-one coaching and help clients develop education and employment plans. The charity also administers bursaries, including through the new MML Fund, which supports women in the program pursuing higher education. In F2025, 94 participants engaged in education activities, 74 developed an education or employment plan, and the MML Fund awarded seven bursaries totalling $5,592.
Resource Centre accounted for 5% of program spending in F2025. Located in New Westminster, the Resource Centre serves as a drop-in hub where clients can access meals, groceries, clothing, showers, mental health counselling, and income assistance navigation. In F2025, the centre served 250 individuals across 938 visits, providing 2,561 meals and 1,910 bags of groceries. A partner organization, Dan's Legacy, delivered 460 mental health counselling sessions on-site. The centre also hosted a provincial income assistance liaison every Wednesday: 62 people sought help 143 times across 25 sessions.
Employment accounted for 3% of program spending in F2025. Aunt Leah's offers life skills workshops and one-on-one coaching in budgeting, time management, and communication to help clients enter the workforce. In F2025, 35 participants used employment services.
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Results and Impact
In F2025, Aunt Leah's housed 12 mothers and 14 children across its three Thresholds homes. No mothers lost custody of their children and three moved out into the community successfully.
63% of participants in Aunt Leah’s Education program graduated from high school, and 13 students completed 21 post-secondary programs. 90% of Thresholds mothers participated in at least one education program.
Aunt Leah's Employment program secured 12 job placements for clients. Four participants maintained employment for at least three months.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Aunt Leah’s results and impact. Charity Intelligence has given Aunt Leah’s an Average impact rating based on demonstrated social impact per dollar spent.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 5 Impact: Vancouver Charities.
Impact Rating: Average
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Finances
Aunt Leah’s Foundation (also known as Aunt Leah’s properties) manages housing on behalf of Aunt Leah’s Society (operating charity). Accordingly, this analysis consolidates the operating charity and foundation’s audited financial statements. Aunt Leah’s henceforth refers to the combined financials from both charities.
In F2025, Aunt Leah’s earned $6.6m in revenue. It received $3.0m in donations and special events fundraising (45% of total revenue), $2.8m in government funding (41% of total revenue), and $788k in rental income (12% of total revenue).
Administrative costs are 8% of revenues (less investment income). Fundraising costs are 19% of donations. Total overhead is 27%. For every dollar donated to Aunt Leah’s, 73 cents are available for programs. This is within Ci's reasonable range.
In F2025, Aunt Leah’s spent $4.5m on programs, or 68% of total revenue. It recorded a $783k surplus and spent $8.1m on capital projects. The capital spending largely reflects investment in Aunt Leah's Marine Way development, a 90-unit affordable housing complex currently under construction in New Westminster.
Aunt Leah’s has ($12.1m) in net reserves. This includes $1.5m in cash and investments, less $13.5m in interest-bearing debt. The debt consists of a $7.7m BC Housing loan for the Marine Way development and $5.8m in mortgages on its other properties. $50k of its net reserves are donor-endowed. Excluding its debt, Aunt Leah's could cover program costs for nearly 4 months.
This charity update has been sent to Aunt Leah’s for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. Updated by Nick Reszetnik on June 25, 2026.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 7.5% | 5.0% | 10.5% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 19.4% | 6.7% | 15.1% |
| Total overhead spending | 26.8% | 11.7% | 25.6% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | (267.1%) | (89.8%) | 23.7% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 2,310 | 9,449 | 3,038 |
| Government funding | 2,777 | 2,874 | 2,444 |
| Fees for service | 788 | 256 | 208 |
| Business activities (net) | 44 | (86) | (72) |
| Special events | 696 | 752 | 736 |
| Investment income | 14 | 7 | 1 |
| Total revenues | 6,630 | 13,252 | 6,355 |
| Program costs | 4,540 | 5,137 | 4,615 |
| Administrative costs | 493 | 657 | 667 |
| Fundraising costs | 583 | 685 | 569 |
| Other costs | 232 | 25 | 24 |
| Total spending | 5,847 | 6,504 | 5,875 |
| Cash flow from operations | 783 | 6,748 | 480 |
| Capital spending | 8,098 | 12,340 | 853 |
| Funding reserves | (12,068) | (4,563) | 1,143 |
Note: 1. LINE-ITEM COSTING: Even though Aunt Leah’s Society's (operating charity) financials follow activity based costing, the foundation’s financials do not. Accordingly, Ci assigned line items to program, administrative, and fundraising expenses to the best of its ability. 2. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES: Business activities are recorded on a net basis. This means Ci backed out the operating costs of Aunt Leah’s thrift store. This affected revenue and expenses by ($803k) in F2025, ($962k) in F2024, and ($945k) in F2023. 3. INTEREST-BEARING DEBTS: Ci backed out ($13.5m), ($5.4m), and ($912k) worth of interest-bearing debts from Aunt Leah’s gross reserve funds in F2025, F2024 and F2023, respectively. 4. PRO-RATA AMORTIZATION: Ci backed out the operating charity’s amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs. 5. DEFERRED DONATIONS ADJUSTMENT: Aunt Leah’s follows deferred accounting. Ci adjusted revenues for changes in deferred donations to show financial information on a consistent basis. This affected donations by ($9k), ($129k) and ($250k) in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively. 6. DEFERRED GOVERNMENT FUNDING ADJUSTMENT: Ci adjusted government funding for changes in deferred government grants, affecting revenue by $17k, ($79k), and $26k in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively. 7. DEFERRED LEASE INDUCEMENT ADJUSTMENT: Ci adjusted fees for service for changes in deferred lease inducement (rent), affecting revenues by ($9k), ($9k), and ($9k) in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
1 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
5 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2025
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comment received and added on October 7, 2024:
We support youth from foster care and mothers at risk of losing custody of their children, who have been pushed to the margins of society due to poverty and lack of housing.
Fifty percent of our programming, which receives no government funding, is unique. Rather than provide time-limited services, we offer youth and mothers the time they need to stabilize, gain confidence, and create a safe environment that allows them to transition to stable housing and employment. We believe that this flexible, holistic approach—combined with the strengths and resilience of the young people themselves—is key to the success we can achieve.
Learn more:
Aunt Leah's 2024 Impact Report
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 604-525-1204