United Way of Saskatoon and Area is a 4-star charity. It is financially transparent, has reasonable overhead costs, and average results reporting to donors. With its current reserves, the charity can cover slightly under one year of annual program costs.

Founded in 1959, United Way of Saskatoon and Area (UWS) raises funds to improve lives and build caring communities in the Saskatoon region by addressing the most prevalent human service needs. In the short-term, United Way Saskatoon invests in local programs to help meet immediate needs. United Way Saskatoon also participates in research, strategy development, partnerships, and advocacy to help create long-term change. Its grants and programs in F2022 focused in three areas: Building Strong Communities (40%), Moving People from Poverty to Possibility (38%) and Helping Kids Be All That They Can Be (22%).

United Way Saskatoon’s Building Strong Communities program supports mental health initiatives and aims to help connect people with their community. In F2022, one UWS-supported agency delivered 5,054 hours of counselling. UWS partially funded 211 Saskatchewan, a service that connects individuals to human services in the region through phone, email, or text. In F2022, 211 Saskatchewan received a total of 6,388 inquiries, of which 1,685 were mental health related. In the same fiscal year, 221 Saskatchewan’s website received 237,701 unique visits.

United Way of Saskatoon’s Moving People from Poverty to Possibility's focus is to ensure that everyone has access to the most basic human needs, such as food, shelter, and transportation. UWS funds Journey Home, a Housing-First program that began in 2014. Since its start, 110 chronically homeless individuals have been housed. In F2022, 74 clients received Housing-First case management care, and 87 participants received social and community reintegration services.  In F2022, UWS offered 12 workshops focusing on Registered Education Saving Plans and tax basics.

Its third area of focus is Helping Kids Be All They Can Be. The charity’s goals are to help children and youth do well in school, improve access to early childhood learning and assist youth in transitioning to post-secondary education and adulthood. In F2022, UWS had 138 mentors in its school mentoring program. UWS also reports that 1,440 participants joined the summer reading tents initiative. In F2022, UWS ran six Summer Success literacy camps that were attended by 100 students.

United Way of Saskatoon and Area received $4.2m in donations in F2023. Fundraising costs are 19% of donations and administrative costs are 8% of revenues. This results in total overhead spending of 27%. For each dollar donated, 73 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.

UWS has $3.1m in reserve funds. These are the charity’s cash and investments. UWS can cover program and grant expenses for just under 1 year at the F2023 level.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to United Way of Saskatoon and Area for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 6, 2023 by Alessandra Castino.