Mustard Seed Street Church
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
C+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
90%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 90 cents are available for programs.
My anchor
OVERVIEW
About Mustard Seed Street Church:
Mustard Seed Street Church is a 3-star, financially transparent charity with a below-average C+ results reporting grade. It has a reasonably sized reserve of cash and investments that can finance 14 months of program operations and 10% overhead spending. For every dollar donated, 90 cents are available to go to the cause.
Founded in 1975, Mustard Seed Street Church (Mustard Seed) is a Christian charity operating in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. Mustard Seed distributes food directly to people at its food bank and indirectly through its 75-member agency network. The charity also partners with schools and provides students essential school supplies. Its outreach team also travels around Victoria and gives out snacks, coffee, and spiritual services to the city’s homeless population.
Mustard Seed runs two program groups: food and other programs. It spent $3.2m cash on its programs and distributed $284k worth of food in the March 2024 fiscal year (F2024). Mustard Seed did not provide any further breakdown of its program spending at the time of this profile update.
Food programs were the majority of Mustard Seed’s program spending and includes operations at both its own food bank and distribution centre. In F2024, the charity distributed over 650,000 lb of food worth $2.29 billion to individuals across Victoria. At its distribution centre, it collected and distributed 2,531,397 lb of food (77% perishable and 23% non-perishable) to 75 agency partners. These partners reportedly include smaller food banks, churches, and schools.
Other programs include Mustard Seed’s outreach services, school supplies, and Christmas hamper subprograms. In F2024, the charity’s outreach teams distributed over 74,000 lb of snacks and 62,000 drinks to those living on the streets. Mustard Seed also provided 600 children shoes, grocery gift cards, and school supplies. In December 2024, Mustard Seed distributed Christmas hampers containing toys and other gifts to 1,842 people.
My anchor
Results and Impact
Since Mustard Seed Street Church distributed 2,531,397 lb of food to 75 agency partners, each organization received 33,752 lb of food on average during F2024.
While Charity Intelligence (Ci) highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Mustard Seed Street Church’s results and impact.
Ci has not yet rated Mustard Seed on its demonstrated impact per dollar spent (n/r). This does not affect its star rating.
My anchor
Finances
Mustard Seed Street Church’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing, meaning it does not separate out its expenses into program, administrative, and fundraising activities. This is not a best practice.
In F2024, Mustard Seed received $3.9m of cash donations (78% of total revenue), $284k worth of donated food (6% of revenue), and $282k of government funding (6% of revenue).
Administrative costs are 5% of total revenue and fundraising costs are 5% of cash donations. Its 10% total overhead spending means that for every dollar donated, 90 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
Mustard Seed spent $3.2m cash on program operations (12% increase from $2.9m in F2023) and distributed $284k worth of food (25% increase from $228k in F2023).
At the end of F2024, Mustard Seed had $3.7m net reserve funds (cash and investments). Its reserves can cover 116% or nearly one year and two months of its annual program spending.
Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on July 7, 2025. Comments & corrections may be forthcoming.
Questions? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.1% | 6.2% | 5.3% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 4.5% | 4.6% | 5.8% |
| Total overhead spending | 9.5% | 10.8% | 11.1% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 115.6% | 108.6% | 92.8% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 3,929,603 | 3,362,521 | 3,050,517 |
| Goods in kind | 283,621 | 227,718 | 126,691 |
| Government funding | 282,178 | 355,007 | 350,813 |
| Fees for service | 358,973 | 284,708 | 194,094 |
| Business activities (net) | 47,899 | 64,585 | 55,520 |
| Other income | 103,647 | 24,367 | 65,748 |
| Total revenues | 5,005,921 | 4,318,906 | 3,843,383 |
| Program costs | 3,200,078 | 2,860,269 | 2,622,272 |
| Grants | 12,500 | 12,500 | 12,800 |
| Donated goods exp | 283,621 | 227,718 | 126,691 |
| Administrative costs | 253,777 | 269,293 | 202,973 |
| Fundraising costs | 175,070 | 154,158 | 177,960 |
| Total spending | 3,925,046 | 3,523,938 | 3,142,696 |
| Cash flow from operations | 1,080,875 | 794,968 | 700,687 |
| Capital spending | 600,558 | 216,062 | 141,242 |
| Funding reserves | 3,713,519 | 3,118,381 | 2,444,834 |
Note: 1. LINE-ITEM COSTING: Since Mustard Seed follows line-item costing, Ci referred to its T3010 filings with the CRA to report program, administrative, and fundraising costs. Ci also referred to its T3010 filings when reporting government funding, business activities, and in-kind goods received. 2. DEFERRED DONATIONS: Since Mustard Seed follows deferred accounting, Ci adjusted donations for changes in deferred contributions to show donors the year-to-year movement of cash within the charity. This affected total revenue by ($nil) in F2024, ($nil) in F2023, and ($6k) in F2022. 3. DEFERRED GOVERNMENT FUNDING: Ci adjusted government funding for changes in deferred government grants, affecting total revenue by ($21k) in F2024, ($23k) in F2023, and ($50k) in F2022. 4. DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Ci adjusted donations for changes in contributions restricted for future capital asset purchases, affecting total revenue by $155k in F2024, ($54k) in F2023, and ($55k) in F2022. 5. WAGES PAYABLE: Ci adjusted program costs for changes in wages payable, affecting total expenses by $7k in F2024, $12k in F2023, and $19k in F2022.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
1 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
5 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
My anchor
Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Mustard Seed Street Comment provided May 25, 2023
The Mustard Seed Street Church has been essential in fighting hunger and restoring faith to people living in greater Victoria since 1975.
Our operations are nearly 100 percent community funded; these include the region’s largest and most accessible Food Bank; the Food Security Distribution Centre rescues 2.5 million tonnes of food and redistributes it to 60+ local community service organizations in the capital region bringing nutritious food to the 45,000 food insecure individuals across the region; Family back-to-school supplies are offered to 600 children and Christmas supports are provided to 1200 individuals and families; Hospitality programs including 3200 hot meals per month, support referrals and programs as well as haircuts & healthcare; addiction recovery services and job training are provided at Hope Farm Healing Centre; and traditional Church services are held.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
250-953-1575