Mission Services of Hamilton is a two-star charity that is not financially transparent. It has a B results reporting grade, which is average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 75 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Founded in 1956, Mission Services of Hamilton (MSH) is a Christian charity that provides comprehensive care to Hamilton’s homeless population. The charity offers short-term emergency shelter and addiction, youth, and food services to over 20,000 individuals and families. According to the charity’s 2022-2025 strategic plan, it plans to expand its existing programs and better respond to the needs of its clients. The charity runs four programs: emergency shelters, food services, addiction services, and youth programming. MSH spent $10.2m on its programs in the fiscal year ending in March 2023 (F2023).

Emergency shelters include its Willow’s Place (women’s shelter), Emma’s Place (15 bed women’s shelter), Inasmuch House (shelter for women and children victims of domestic violence), & 58 bed men’s shelter. In F2023, MSH provided 341, 141, and 634 people overnight shelter at Emma’s Place, Inasmuch House, its men’s shelter respectively. The charity also reported 17,854 and 5,472 visits at Willow’s & Emma’s Place respectively in F2023. MSH also responded to 9,505 crisis calls from women under distress in F2023.

Food Services include its two foodbanks: Good Food Centre and East Hamilton Food Centre. These centres provide prepared meals, groceries, and hygiene products to low income families in need. In F2023, MSH provided 13,143 people 96,008 meals at the Good Food Centre and 1,850 people 24,000 grocery packs (67% increase F2022).

Addiction services includes its Suntrac Wellness & Addiction Treatment Program (Suntrac) which provides free personalized support for people struggling with substance abuse through group sessions, mental health support, and relapse prevention aftercare. In F2023, MSH hosted 1,092 addiction counselling group sessions. The charity also reported that 432 people entered Suntrac.

Youth programming includes its 196 and 196+ subprograms for youth in grades 6-8 and grade 9 respectively. Both subprograms offer after-school homework help, cooking classes, and hot meals to children in Hamilton. 196+ also offers food safety certificate training and resume building skills. In F2023, MSH supported a combined 20 youth between the 196 and 196+ subprograms.

This analysis consolidates Mission Services of Hamilton (operating charity) and Mission Service of Hamilton Foundation’s (foundation) financial statements.

This charity is not financially transparent. Although the operating charity’s audited financial statements are available on its website, the foundation’s statements are not publicly available. Ci retrieved the foundation’s partial F2023 audited statements from the CRA and used its T3010 filings for F2022 and F2021. 36% of the charity’s reserve fund consists of liquid assets (cash and investments) from the foundation in F2023. This means that Ci’s requires the foundation’s audited financial statements to properly review this charity.

In F2023, MSH received $4.3m in donations which is 35% of revenues and a 9% decrease from $4.7m in F2022. The charity also received $7.7m of government funding which is 63% of revenues. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues and fundraising costs are 21% of donations. This results in 25% total overhead spending, meaning that for every dollar donated, 75 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

In F2023, MSH spent $10.2m on its programs which is 82% of revenues. The charity also had a $543k cash surplus.

At the end of F2023, Mission Services of Hamilton had $3.7m in reserve funds (cash and investments) which covers 37% or slightly over four months of its annual program spending.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on July 22, 2024. Updates and corrections may be forthcoming.