Kids Help Phone
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.
B+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Low
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.
70%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 70 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Kids Help Phone:
Kids Help Phone is a 2-star charity. It is financially transparent and has an above-average results reporting grade. Its overhead costs are within Ci's reasonable range and it has Low demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Founded in 1989, Kids Help Phone (KHP) supports youth struggling with mental health crises. The charity states that each year, one in five people in Canada will experience mental health challenges or a mental disorder. The five most common issues relate to anxiety, relationships, depression, suicide, and isolation. KHP spent $35.7m on its programs in 2024.
Mental Health Services (Clinical Delivery, Clinical Future Fund, and Good2Talk) received 93% ($33.3m) of program spending in 2024. KHP runs a 24/7 e-mental health service for youth seeking mental health support. The charity connects with youth through its website, counselling, texting, and peer-to-peer services. It also offers programming for post-secondary students and adults. KHP reports that people contacted its text chat 210,458 times in 2024. The charity reports it supported 4.3 million people in 2024. Of those supported, 46% identify as 2SLGBTQ+ and 10% are Indigenous.
The Accelerator program received 7% ($2.3m) of program spending in 2024. The Accelerator uses innovation and applied research to improve and expand KHP services. The charity reports it has 50 million data points. It uses these data points to map areas with low service levels and connect people with services close to them. KHP reports that its Resources Around Me (RAM) list has over 43,000 clinical resources for youth. It reports RAM had over 125,000 visits and helped thousands of youths connect with services close to them.
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Results and Impact
Kids Help Phone reports that 86% of newcomer youths said they found their conversation with KHP helpful in 2024.
KHP reports that 75% of the youth who reach out share something they have never told anyone else.
KHP surveyed 224 participants before and after a phone call in 2014. The results are as follows:
- 73% of callers had more hope about their problem or situation because of their counselling conversations.
- 82% had increased self-efficacy around their problem or situation after speaking with a counsellor.
- 98% said they would phone again if they needed help.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Kids Help Phone's results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given KHP a Low impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Low
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Finances
Kids Help Phone’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing, a best practice. Its expenses are clearly defined between program, administrative, and fundraising categories.
In 2024 KHP received $30.5m in donations and special events fundraising, a 55% increase from 2023 ($19.7m). It also received $21.9m in government funding. Government funding is 39% of total revenue.
Administrative costs are 10% of revenues (excluding investment income). Fundraising costs are 20% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 30%. For every dollar donated, 70 cents are available to go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
In 2024 KHP spent $35.7m on its programs, which is 64% of its revenue. In 2024 it had a surplus of $8.7m, which is 16% of its revenue.
KHP has $49.0m in reserve funds (cash and investments), a 30% increase from 2023 ($37.7m). The reserves can cover 137%, or one year and four months of program costs.
The most recent T3010 filing at the time of this update was from 2023. In 2023, KHP paid external fundraisers $331k who collected $290k in donations. This means it cost KHP $1.44 to raise $1 using external fundraisers. It is likely more cost efficient to directly donate to the charity.
This charity report is an update that has been sent for review to Kids Help Phone. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 18, 2025, by Grady Simpson.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 9.7% | 11.4% | 6.8% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 20.2% | 30.7% | 40.9% |
| Total overhead spending | 30.0% | 42.1% | 47.6% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 137.3% | 112.3% | 127.4% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 24,643 | 13,300 | 12,471 |
| Goods in kind | 60 | 80 | 192 |
| Government funding | 21,915 | 21,488 | 26,373 |
| Special events | 5,894 | 6,437 | 5,270 |
| Investment income | 3,077 | 2,141 | 131 |
| Other income | 123 | 80 | 23 |
| Total revenues | 55,712 | 43,526 | 44,461 |
| Program costs | 35,659 | 33,576 | 32,437 |
| Administrative costs | 5,126 | 4,716 | 3,000 |
| Fundraising costs | 6,179 | 6,051 | 7,248 |
| Total spending | 46,964 | 44,344 | 42,686 |
| Cash flow from operations | 8,747 | (818) | 1,775 |
| Capital spending | 107 | 220 | 845 |
| Funding reserves | 48,956 | 37,712 | 41,339 |
Note: Deferred donations: KHP uses deferred accounting. To show donors information on a consistent basis, Ci adjusted for these deferred donations. This affected revenue by $7.0m in 2024, $1.0m in 2023, and $126k in 2022. Deferred government funding: Ci adjusted for deferred government funding. This affected revenue by ($593k) in 2024, ($1.9m) in 2023, and $1.1m in 2022. Donated goods in kind: Ci removed donated goods in kind from donations and reported it under goods in kind.
Salary Information
$350k + |
1 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
1 |
$200k - $250k |
3 |
$160k - $200k |
5 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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