Yonge Street Mission is a 4-star charity. It has an above-average results reporting grade and reasonable overhead costs. Charity Intelligence has not assessed (n/r) Yonge Street Mission's impact. 

Founded in 1896, Yonge Street Mission (YSM) aims to end chronic poverty in Toronto, Ontario in one generation. YSM states that 500,000 people in Toronto face poverty. The charity believes this problem is rising due to the pandemic, as most covid-19 related job losses affected people who make less than $14 per hour. Yonge Street Mission provides programs and services to three groups: street-involved youth, families in need, and adults experiencing chronic poverty. YSM also provides community development services to vulnerable neighbourhoods.

YSM supports youth through its Evergreen Centre. In F2021, YSM allocated 36% of total program spending to Evergreen. Evergreen offers drop-in services, meal programs, health and dental care, nursery care, housing assistance, counselling, job support, and schooling programs. The charity reports serving an average of 2,000 meals a week at Evergreen in F2021. Additionally, 71 youth enrolled in Evergreen’s Helping Offenders on Probation Excel (HOPE) program, which promotes rehabilitation and reintegration.

YSM’s Cornerstone Family Services accounted for 19% of total program costs in F2021. Cornerstone offers Daycare, after-school programs, a computer lab, a food bank, mentoring, parenting workshops, job support, and housing services. While the Daycare originally shut down due to covid-19, it re-opened in July 2020, welcoming 30 children. Additionally, 31 male caregivers enrolled in Cornerstone’s Man2Man support group.

YSM’s Bridges services support adults aged 18-60 through holistic care, courses, warm meals, and community connection. In F2021, YSM allocated 14% of total program spending to Bridges. YSM reports that in F2020, Bridges served 6,818 meals and offered 1,500 hours of training to 763 active participants.

In F2021, YSM allocated 7% of total program spending to Community Development. YSM’s Community Development Team works with residents to help create changes in their neighbourhoods. YSM reports that 99 community members participated in 15 Community Development groups in F2020.

The rest of the program spending (23%) went towards combined program support services for the programs mentioned above. These services include housing support, mental health counselling, job support, and food.

Yonge Street Mission had total donations of $10.8m in F2021. YSM also collected $239k in goods in kind and $1.1m in business activities. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 25% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 30%. For every dollar donated, 70 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range of overhead spending. 

The charity has funding reserves of $8.5m, once $1.8m in current and long-term debt is accounted for. Excluding $5.9m in donor-endowed funds, YSM could cover 29% or roughly three months of program costs with reserves, indicating a need for funding.

Charity Intelligence sent an update of this report to Yonge Street Mission for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 26, 2022 by Lin Zhu.