Children’s Cottage Society (CHCSC) is a good, 4-star charity. It has an average results reporting grade and an average impact score. It's financially transparent and has reasonable overhead costs.

Founded in 1986, Children’s Cottage Society helps prevent harm and neglect to children in Calgary. It aims to build strong children and safe nurturing families through prevention programs and support services for families in crisis. Parents may seek help from Children’s Cottage Society for reasons including homelessness, poor physical or mental health, and family violence. The charity addresses the needs of families through five main programs: Crisis Nursery, Healthy Families, Housing, Brenda’s House, and Community Respite. Children’s Cottage Society has helped more than 70,000 children since its opening.  

A Charity Intelligence 2022 Top 10 Canadian Youth Impact Charity

In F2021, Children’s Cottage Society’s Crisis Nursery program made up 35% of program costs. This program offers 24-hour childcare by the trained child and family support workers. Crisis Nursery supported 931 children from 557 families during F2021. The workers were assisted by 761 volunteers who provided 8,635 hours of support.

In F2021, Children’s Cottage Society allocated 20% of program spending to Housing. This program includes subprograms such as Rapid Rehousing, HomeLinks, HomeBridge, and Adaptive Case Management. All subprograms provide information and referrals to low-income families so that they can move to affordable housing and avoid homelessness. HomeBridge additionally provides one-time financial support to pay rent for families in crisis. Through case management, the charity provides support which is suited to the unique needs of each family being housed.

Brenda’s House made up 19% of total program spending in F2021. The house provides emergency shelter for up to 14 families experiencing homelessness. Families stay in private rooms, receive on-site childcare, and are assisted in finding stable housing. In F2021, 90 families with 152 children stayed at Brenda’s House.

The Healthy Families programs made up 12% of program costs in F2021. This program includes subprograms such as the Early Years Family Support Program and Community Respite Program. Childhood development is critical to lifetime success, so the Children’s Cottage Society provides in-home support for Calgarians with young children to improve as parents. Temporary childcare is provided as in-home infant visits for families lacking support, volunteer single-day daycare, or regular childcare coordinated with a licensed centre in Calgary.

The remaining 15% of program spending was allocated to support the Calgary West FRN Hub and Spoke and Okotoks and Cochrane Spokes.

Children’s Cottage Society received total donations of $5.4m in F2021. The charity also received $2.9m in government funding, representing 33% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 6% of donations. This means overhead costs are 11%. For every dollar donated, 89 cents go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Children’s Cottage Society’s funding reserves of $4.0m can cover annual program costs for roughly eight months. This indicates a need for funding.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Children’s Cottage Society for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 6, 2022 by Lin Zhu.