Covenant House Vancouver is a 2-star financially transparent charity with a Low impact rating and an above-average B+ results reporting grade. It also has a reasonably sized reserve fund of cash and investments. For every dollar donated, 74 cents are available to go to the cause.

Founded in 1997, Covenant House Vancouver (CHV) helps homeless youths in Greater Vancouver live independently. Homeless or precariously housed youths are first contacted by the charity’s outreach services before arriving at the charity and receiving meals, clothing, and other basic essentials. Then, youths are placed into one of its three emergency shelters before transitioning to living independently in charity-run affordable housing. According to CHV, 87% of Vancouver’s homeless population is under the age of 25 as of 2023.

CHV runs three program groups: emergency housing, community services, and transitional housing. It spent $18.1m on its programs in the June 2024 fiscal year (F2024). CHV reported helping 904 unique individuals in F2024.

Emergency housing was 60% of CHV’s program spending ($10.8m) and includes its Crisis (60 beds), Sanctuary (28 beds), and newly opened Foundation (7 beds) emergency shelters. In F2024, the charity served 169 youths at Crisis who stayed an average of 156 days, 21 youths at Foundations who stayed 118 days on average, and 21 youths at Sanctuary since this shelter opened in June 2024.

Community services were 21% of CHV’s program spending ($3.9m) and includes its outreach and drop-in services (meals, clothing distribution, and group activities). In F2024, the charity served 729 youths at its drop-in services across 4,833 interventions. Its outreach services reached 286 youths across 537 interventions. CHV also spent $848k on a public education program but did not disclose any quantified results for this program at the time of this profile update.

Transitional housing was 19% of CHV’s program spending ($3.4m) and includes its Rights of Passage community apartment (44 studio apartment units). In F2024, 37 of these units were occupied by the charity’s clients (85% occupancy rate).

Covenant House Vancouver provides an activity-based costing breakdown of its financials – a best practice. This means its audited financial statements clearly disclose which expenses relate to program, administrative, and fundraising activities.

In F2024, CHV received $24.1m in donations (80% of total revenue) and $4.4m worth of government funding (15% of total revenue). Administrative costs are 6% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 19% of donations. Its 26% overhead spending means that for every dollar donated, 74 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range.

In F2024, CHV spent $18.1m on its programs – a 21% increase from $14.9m spent on its programs during F2023. In F2024, the charity increased its drop-in service availability from five to seven days and renovated its 44-unit community apartment building (Rights of Passage).

At the end of F2024, CHV had $15.8m worth of net reserve funds (cash and investments). Ci backed out $331k worth of endowment funds held by the Vancouver Foundation from its gross reserves. Excluding endowment funds, reserves cover 86% or just over ten months of its annual program spending.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on June 4, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.

Questions on this profile? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca.