Fresh Start Recovery Centre
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.
High
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.
76%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 76 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Fresh Start Recovery Centre:
Fresh Start Recovery Centre is a 5-star charity with High demonstrated impact. It has above average disclosure with an A- results reporting grade. Its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top Impact Charity.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 100 Rated Charity.
Founded in 1992, Fresh Start Recovery Centre (Fresh Start) is an addiction recovery and rehabilitation center. It has locations in Calgary and Lethbridge, Alberta. It follows the medical model of addiction as a disease. Its recovery program facilitates individual and group counseling sessions and runs recreational and therapeutic activities.
Fresh Start's Calgary location is a 40,000-square-foot home with 50 primary treatment beds for men. The house has 65 resident rooms, counseling rooms, a meditation room, gymnasium, dining hall, weight room, games room, movie theatre, laundry room, wellness clinic, and more. Fresh Start's Lethbridge location has 50 beds and hosts both men and women.
Fresh Start runs two programs: Addiction Treatment and Friends and Family Healing. The charity does not provide a program spending breakdown. In F2025, Fresh Start spent $7.8m on its programs.
Treatment is Fresh Start’s main program. It includes addiction treatment, support after treatment, outreach, housing and community work. The charity uses a 12-step model for treatment. This is a group-based recovery method built on peer support and mentorship. In 2024, 356 people entered treatment across the charity's three sites. Of these, 281 completed Phase 1 of the program. By year end, 309 people had finished the inpatient program and 6 had finished the outpatient program.
Friends and Family Healing support people whose loved one has an addiction. It runs the Coming Together series, a four-week program with two sessions a week, that helps family and friends support a loved one's recovery. In 2024, the program supported 58 individuals.
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Results and Impact
In 2024, 356 people entered treatment at Fresh Start Recovery Centre and 303 of them graduated for an 85% graduation rate. One year later, 189 had stayed clean and sober, equal to 53% of everyone who entered.
In its Friends and Family program, 54 individuals completed the Coming Together series in 2024 for a 93% completion rate. A survey of participants found:
- 97% said the program gave them solutions for their own healing
- 97% said it helped them understand how addiction affects friends and family
- 100% said it gave them insight that has helped, or may continue to help, them
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Fresh Start Recovery Centre's results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has rated Fresh Start as having a high impact based on demonstrated impact per dollar. Read our report on Fresh Start's impact to learn about its social return on investment and how we calculated it.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top Impact Charity.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top Canadian Impact Charity.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 5 Impact: Calgary Charities.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 5 Impact Charity: Homeless Sector.
Impact Rating: High
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Finances
In F2025, Fresh Start had $11.0m of total revenues. Government funding accounted for $5.1m or 46% of revenues. Donations were $1.8m or 16% of revenues. In F2025, Fresh Start spent $7.8m in its programs. This was 71% of revenues.
Administrative costs were $694k or 6% of revenues (less investment income). Fundraising costs were $322k or 18% of revenues. For every cent donated to the charity, 76 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range.
The charity has $6.0m in cash and investments and $9.1m in liabilities. Its cash and investments can cover 9 months of its annual program costs.
Updated on June 29, 2025 by Raihan Firosh. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 6.3% | 7.3% | 3.5% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 18.1% | 13.1% | 13.1% |
| Total overhead spending | 24.4% | 20.4% | 16.6% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | (40.7%) | (169.2%) | (53.2%) |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 1,778 | 271 | 1,862 |
| Government funding | 5,064 | 1,600 | 5,046 |
| Fees for service | 2,757 | 626 | 2,031 |
| Business activities (net) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other income | 1,385 | (406) | 2,860 |
| Total revenues | 10,984 | 2,091 | 11,799 |
| Program costs | 7,809 | 1,870 | 6,066 |
| Administrative costs | 694 | 153 | 410 |
| Fundraising costs | 322 | 36 | 244 |
| Other costs | 462 | 159 | 85 |
| Total spending | 9,287 | 2,217 | 6,805 |
| Cash flow from operations | 1,697 | (127) | 4,995 |
| Capital spending | 1,022 | 396 | 15,916 |
| Funding reserves | (3,179) | (3,164) | (3,227) |
Note: 1. DEFERRED DONATIONS: Ci adjusted for deferred contributions. The charity did not disclose if these deferred contributions were individual donations or government funding. As such, Ci listed these under other revenue. This affected revenue by $1.2m in F2025, ($575k) in F2024, and $2.2m in F2023. 2. DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Ci adjusted for deferred capital contributions. These contributions were received for the construction of a new building. This affected other revenue by in $495k in F2023.3. FEES FOR SERVICE: Ci listed accommodation revenue under fees for service.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
1 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
1 |
< $40k |
1 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2025
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 403-387-6266