Founded in 1929, Hope Mission is a Christian charity working with people who are poor, homeless, or struggling with addiction. The charity operates in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, and Wetaskiwin with each location delivering a different set of services such as emergency shelters, long-term housing, kids’ summer camps, addiction recovery programs, a health centre, and a 24/7 rescue van.

Hope Mission reports distributing more than 1,000 meals for free in Edmonton each day at a cost of $2.70 per meal to the charity. More than 600 people can use emergency shelter beds in Edmonton with an additional 70 beds set aside for those under severe influence of alcohol or drugs. More than 140 spaces are available for longer-term housing at the Edmonton Green Manor, Hope Mission Centre, and Immigration Hall buildings.  

The charity reports feeding hundreds of children at schools and in after-school programs in Calgary and Wetaskiwin. At Brightwood Ranch, Camp Hope, and Bethany Homes, children can attend overnight and day camps. Most of the youth attending are from single parent, foster, and group homes.

All Hope Mission employees must sign a statement of faith, agreeing to seven core beliefs of Christianity including: “The Scripture of the Old and the New Testament are inspired by God and inerrant in the original writing and are of supreme and final authority in faith and life” and “Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true Man”. Despite this policy, the charity reports receiving $8.8m in government funding in F2017.

Charity Intelligence has scored Hope Mission as a zero in financial transparency because the charity failed to provide full financial statements when requested. The financial analysis completed by Charity Intelligence uses the most recent financial statements available to Ci, through a request to the CRA, at the time of writing this report.

Hope Mission is a large charity with donations of $8.9m in F2017. The charity received $8.8m in government funding, representing 46% of total revenue. Administrative costs are 14% of revenues less investment income, and fundraising costs are 15% of donations. For every dollar donated, 71 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Hope Mission has $8.4m in funding reserves which could cover seven months of program costs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Hope Mission for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 30, 2019 by Madison Kerr.