The Mustard Seed is a 4-star, financially transparent charity with an above-average A- results reporting grade. Its reserves can cover one month and two weeks of its annual program spending and it has 24% overhead spending. For every dollar donated, 76 cents are available to go to the cause.

Founded in 1984 and operating in seven cities across Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, The Mustard Seed (Mustard Seed) is a Christian charity which works towards ending homelessness and poverty. It provides emergency housing, rent-subsidized housing, and provides jobs and counselling for those in need. Mustard Seed runs three programs: Basic Services, Affordable Housing, and Support Services. It spent $41.9m on its programs in the March 2024 fiscal year (F2024).

Basic Services was 53% ($22.3m) of Mustard Seed’s program spending and includes housing provided by its two shelters (a 370-bed adult and 40-bed women’s shelter). Clients reportedly stay for an average of 12 days in each shelter. The charity also reportedly distributed over 890,000 meals and 53,000 articles of clothing at its shelters. Mustard Seed did not report the unique number of clients housed at the time of this profile update.

Support Services was 30% ($12.4m) of Mustard Seed’s program spending. In F2024, the charity helped 604 find work at partner organizations. It also provided a total of 74,219 counselling, clinical, veterans, ID, and other services at the Mustard Seed Wellness Centre in F2024.

Affordable Housing was 17% ($7.2m) of Mustard Seed’s program spending. The charity offers rent-subsidized units for its clients at its 1010 Centre (204 units) and 102 Building (30 units) apartments. In F2024, Mustard Seed moved 1,269 people into supportive housing after coordinating with over 600 organizations.

The Mustard Seed’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing – a best practice. The charity clearly separates its expenses between program, administrative, and fundraising activities.

In F2024, Mustard Seed received $26.5m in cash donations (44% of total revenue) and $27.1m in government funding (45% of revenue). It also received $1.7m worth of donated goods.

Administrative costs are 1% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 23% of donations. Its 24% total overhead spending means that for every dollar donated, 76 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Mustard Seed spent $41.9m on its programs in F2024 – a 19% increase from $35.4m in F2023. The charity opened two new buildings in Saskatoon that will reportedly serve those in need living in the city.

At the end of F2024, Mustard Seed had $15.9m gross and $5.6m net reserve funds (cash and investments). Ci backed out $10.3m worth of interest-bearing debt from its gross reserves. Its reserve can cover 13% or one month and two weeks of its annual program spending.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on July 11, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.

Questions? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca