Kerby Centre is a 4-star rated charity with best practices in financial transparency. It has an average results reporting grade and low overhead costs.  

Founded in 1973, Kerby Centre provides social programs and resources to older adults. The Centre works in Calgary and is one branch of Unison: For Generations 50+. Unison also leads programs online and in Medicine Hat through its Veiner Centre. About 30% of Canadian seniors are at risk for social isolation which can have negative health effects. The Centre works to support older adults to prevent them from becoming isolated.  

Kerby Centre has five main programs: Active Aging, Elder Abuse, Seniors Supports, Thrive Food Security, and Wellness Connection Centre. The charity does not provide a breakdown of spending on its programs.  

The Active Aging program runs activities and trips for older adults. These activities aim to keep seniors active and fight social isolation. In F2022, Kerby Centre led 135 in-person classes, 27 trips, and 17 online classes. These events had a total of 34,437 participants. In F2022, Kerby Centre hosted its first global online event which had 129 participants. 

The Elder Abuse program provides resources and shelter for people experiencing physical, emotional, or financial abuse. In F2022, Kerby Centre received 1,284 calls for support. It provided 3,102 safe nights to people at the shelter.  

The Seniors Supports program helps people fill out paperwork to access housing, tax returns, and social services. In F2022 this program assisted 27,324 people. Kerby Centre helped 4,034 seniors complete their tax returns, leading to a total refund of $752,368. It also worked with 852 people on housing applications.  

The Thrive Food Security program provides meals and groceries to elderly people in need. This includes people with mobility issues or in low-income households. In F2022, Kerby Centre helped 10,912 people through its food programs. Of this total, 2,257 were clients of the Meals on Wheels program, so they had food delivered to their houses. In F2022, the Centre hosted 52 community kitchen sessions which each provided 100 meals.  

Finally, the Wellness Connection Centre provides mental health support to older adults. This program started in 2022. In F2022, Kerby Centre supported 258 seniors, with 85% of them being women. 

In F2022, Kerby Centre had $4.6m in donations. This is five times the amount of donations it received in F2021. The charity also received $2.8m in government funding, representing 30% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 12% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 3% of cash donations. This means that total overhead spending is 15%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 85 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending. 

The charity has reported its fundraising costs as $120k in F2022. This is likely underreported as its administrative costs are substantially larger at $1.2m in F2021. This is likely an error in Ci's reporting of Kerby Centre's overhead spending. 

Kerby Centre has funding reserves of $7.9m which can cover about one year and nine months of annual program costs. 

This report is an update that has been sent to Kerby Centre for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated June 8, 2023 by Clive Stevens.