Fred Victor is a 4-star rated charity. It has an above-average results reporting grade, low overhead costs, and is financially transparent.  

Founded in 1894, Fred Victor helps homeless and low-income people access housing, health care, and employment services. The charity is based in Toronto and operates over 20 sites across the city. In F2020, Fred Victor joined with Toronto Christian Resource Centre (CRC) and obtained the 40 Oaks Housing Community. This unit provides affordable housing for 100 tenants. 

The charity operates four main programs: Housing, Health, Income, and Ending Homelessness. The charity does not disclose how much it spent on each program in F2023.  

Fred Victor’s Housing program helps people secure affordable permanent and transitional housing. The charity also runs two emergency shelters for people to stay in while they find more long-term housing. In F2023, Fred Victor provided 2,370 people with shelter, food, and support through its shelters. Another 580 people received safe and permanent housing. In F2023, the charity opened a new permanent housing site in Scarborough with 22 apartments. 

The charity also operates a Health program. Fred Victor works to address substance abuse, mental health challenges, physical injuries, food insecurity, and social isolation. In F2023, Fred Victor served 225,997 community meals. It supported 1,297 people with mental health and/or addiction. The charity also had 35,019 visits to its safe consumption sites. 

Fred Victor's Income program includes Employment & Training, Friends Catering, Keep Cool, and a Women's Bakery program. These projects train and hire homeless people to help them become financially stable. In F2023, the charity hosted 4,258 Employment & Training meetings. It helped 120 clients become certified in Community and Social Services Careers. Another 24 women completed the charity's Bakery program. Finally, Fred Victor operated 15 Cooling Centres during the summer.  

Through the charity's Ending Homelessness program, Fred Victor works to prevent people from becoming homeless. The charity works towards the goal of zero homelessness by 2025. In F2023, Fred Victor supported 51 people to prevent them from losing their housing.

Fred Victor received $5.4m in donations in F2023. The charity also received $38.1m in government funding, representing 80% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 6% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 2% of donations. This means overhead costs are 9%. For every dollar donated, 91 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

Overhead ratios are likely understated due to a lack of transparency in cost breakdowns for common expenses like salaries, rent, and benefits. Additionally, Ci could not use the figures reported in Fred Victor’s T3010 filing with the CRA since expenses do not reconcile with the charity’s audited financial statements and F2023 CRA data for Fred Victor was not available at the time of this update. 

­­Fred Victor has gross funding reserves of $27.6m which can cover around eight months of annual program costs. Its interest-bearing debts are $11.4m (held in mortgages). Including these debts, Fred Victor has net funding reserves of $16.3m which can cover around five months of annual program costs. 

Ci has sent this charity update to Fred Victor for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on July 11, 2023, by Clive Stevens.