Youth Without Shelter
Toronto, ON M9V 1P9
Executive Director: Wendy Horton
Board Chair: Moez Bawania
Website: www.yws.on.ca
Charitable Reg. #: 11930 7817 RR0001
Charity Rating
Donor Accountability
Grade: A
The grade is based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.Financial Transparency
Need for Funding
Spending Breakdown
Full-time staff #22
Avg. Compensation $57,116
Top 10 Staff Salary Range
| $350k + | 0 |
| $300k - $350k | 0 |
| $250k - $300k | 0 |
| $200k - $250k | 0 |
| $160k - $200k | 0 |
| $120k - $160k | 0 |
| $80k - $120k | 1 |
| $40k - $80k | 8 |
| < $40k | 1 |
About Youth Without Shelter:
Youth Without Shelter (YWS) is an emergency residence and referral agency for homeless youth aged 16 to 24. Its mission is to “enable youth to live responsibly and independently in society.” It was founded in 1986 by a group of teachers and guidance counsellors frustrated with the lack of safe emergency housing and support programs for homeless students.
Youth Without Shelter’s Residential Program (making up 50% of program spending) offers 33 youth emergency accommodations each night. The program provides shelter, counselling, regular meals, clothing and personal hygiene products to the youth. In F2016, YWS provided 11,134 safe bed nights, fed youth 42,305 meals and hosted 2,273 case management meetings. YWS reported that 1,781 client goals were achieved.
Youth Without Shelter’s Stay in School Program (making up 32% of program spending) offers 20 youth aged 16 to 24, with priority given to youth under 20, support to achieve success in their educational goals. Youth work with a case manager to develop a plan outlining their academic, employment and housing goals. Youth have access to volunteer tutors, on-site computer labs, and are provided with transit passes, school supplies and school-appropriate clothing. In F2016, YWS provided 7,082 safe beds and fed the youth 35,460 meals. It saw 15 youths graduate high school with the program’s help.
Youth Without Shelter’s Housing Program (making up 7% of program spending) works with residents to find affordable housing. The program liaises with landlords and assists in housing searches and placements. In F2016, YWS helped 68 clients find permanent housing and conducted 961 housing meetings.
Finally, YWS’s Life Skills Program makes up 6% of program spending, its Employment Program makes up 3% of program spending, and its Educational Outreach Program makes up 3% of program spending.
Charity Intelligence has analyzed Youth Without Shelter since 2009 and it is a consistently high-ranked charity with high charity impact. Youth Without Shelter was included in Ci's 2015 Canadian Charity Impact Fund, one of 10 charities with high impact in the social services sector. It is of particular interest to donors looking to fund programs that best help youth homelessness in Toronto.
Financial Review:
Youth Without Shelter is a mid-cap charity, with donations of $1.1m in F2016. The charity does not report its administrative and fundraising costs in its audited financial statements. This report uses the charity’s T3010 filing for the administrative and fundraising costs. Its administrative costs are 6% of revenues and its fundraising costs are 17% of donations. For every $1 donated to the charity, 77 cents is put towards its programs, falling within Ci’s reasonable range. Youth Without Shelter has funding reserves of $769k, resulting in a program cost coverage ratio of 37%. This means that it can cover 4 months of its annual programs using its existing reserves, indicating a funding need.
This charity report is an update that is being reviewed by Youth Without Shelter. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on May 23, 2017 by Josh Lam.
Financial RatiosFiscal year ending March |
2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 6.1% | 6.8% | 4.6% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 17.3% | 25.6% | 32.3% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 37.3% | 31.7% | 29.0% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 1,063,683 | 797,267 | 748,055 |
| Goods in kind | 353,097 | 464,600 | 355,907 |
| Government funding | 1,166,139 | 1,109,682 | 1,067,774 |
| Other income | 7,367 | 8,294 | 12,717 |
| Total revenues | 2,590,286 | 2,379,843 | 2,184,453 |
| Program costs | 2,061,765 | 2,002,101 | 1,815,732 |
| Administrative costs | 158,254 | 161,897 | 100,665 |
| Fundraising costs | 183,720 | 204,252 | 241,782 |
| Cash flow from operations | 186,547 | 11,593 | 26,274 |
| Funding reserves | 768,656 | 634,196 | 526,654 |
For more information on Canadian charities, please visit www.charityintelligence.ca
The information in this report was prepared by Charity Intelligence Canada and its independent analysts from publically-available information. Charity Intelligence Canada and its analysts have made endeavours to ensure that the data in this report is accurate and complete but accept no liability. No attempt has been made to examine the effectiveness of the charities' programs.
Comments added by the Charity:
Two core practices guide all services at YWS:
1) Strength-based model of care: focuses on young people’s strengths and building a safe, community within our walls and a relationship based upon trust and respect.
2) Trauma informed care: “Everyone has the right to a future that is not dictated by their past.” Majority of the youth YWS serves have had to deal with overwhelming personal experiences that may have changed their perception about life. Our goal is to have a support system that will empower young people to success, and help them transition from a post-traumatic state to post-traumatic growth.
In June 2015 after consultation with our stakeholders and the youth we serve the YWS Board of Directors committed to a strategic plan that will guide YWS over the next three years. Considering all that we heard and learned from our stakeholders and youth a strategic plan has been developed with four strategic priorities, that can be viewed on our website.