Founded in 1910, Young Women's Christian Association of Calgary (YW) is a member of the global YW network. As the longest-serving women’s organization in Calgary, the charity has been working to improve the safety and treatment of women for over a century. YW runs four main programs: transitional housing, counselling and family resources, crisis shelter and outreach, and language and employment services.

In F2021, YW allocated 37% of program spending to transitional and community housing and 26% to crisis shelter and outreach. Together, these programs work to support women leaving abuse or suffering from homelessness. The charity offers women short-term crisis shelter, long-term transitional housing, and three years of one-on-one guidance. Some housing is designated for single women, while other options provide space for moms and children. In October 2020, YW announced that it handed its community housing buildings to new service providers and will no longer provide support. The charity says it is glad to have provided long-term supportive housing for over 70 women before ending the program. YW continues to offer transitional housing services and emergency shelter.

Counselling, childcare, and family resource programs made up 29% of program spending in F2021. Counselling is available for women, men, children, and families to help them build healthy relationships, develop positive parenting skills, increase emotional stability, reduce stress, and heal from trauma. By offering flexible childcare, parents can work or access YW programming. In F2021, YW provided 600 hours of group counselling, 1,800 family outreach sessions, and 300 workshops for parents and families.

In F2021, YW allocated 7% of program spending to language and employment services. Through its Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, YW provides basic English training. The charity provided 4,500 classroom hours in language instruction in F2021. Through its Women’s Economic Prosperity program, YW offers financial confidence and financial literacy courses to help women overcome economic disadvantages.  

In F2021, Young Women's Christian Association of Calgary had total donations of $8.5m. The charity also received $11.6m in government funding, representing 54% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues and fundraising costs are 8% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 13%. For every dollar donated, 87 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

YW has $28.0m in funding reserves, of which $147k is donor endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, YW could cover 206% or over two years of annual program costs with reserves.

Charity Intelligence sent an update of this report to Young Women's Christian Association of Calgary for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 4, 2021 by Sydney Olexa.