Yonge Street Mission is a 3-star charity. It is financially transparent and has an average results reporting grade and reasonable overhead costs. Charity Intelligence has not yet 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 city is also the child poverty capital of Canada, with one in four children living in poverty. Nearly 1 million workers hold two or more jobs, and over 2 million people are stuck in temporary employment. 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 neighborhoods. Its head office is in Toronto, ON.

Evergreen Centre - 38% of total program spending: Evergreen offers drop-in services, meal programs, health and dental care, nursery care, housing assistance, counseling, job support, and schooling programs for youth. In F2022, the charity reported helping 1,236 youth with mental health services. For its computer literacy program, the charity reported a monthly average of 890 student hours of computer programming in F2022.

Cornerstone Family Services - 21% of total program costs: Cornerstone offers daycare, after-school programs, a computer lab, a food bank, mentoring, parenting workshops, job support, and housing services. In F2022, the charity reported helping 273 families with mental health services.

Bridges program - 7% of total program spending: Bridges program supports adults aged 18-60 through holistic care, courses, warm meals, and community connection. In F2022, the program provided mental health services for 1,095 adults.

Community Development - 7% of total program spending: YSM’s Community Development Team works with residents to help create changes in their neighborhoods. 

The rest of the program spending (27%) went towards combined program support services for the programs mentioned above. These services include housing support, mental health counseling, job support, and food. In F2022, YSM had 20,075 food bank appointments. It also provided 1,800 hours of health counseling services, 628 hours of group therapy, and 356 employment workshops in F2022.

In F2022, Yonge Street Mission had total donations of $10.1m. The charity also received $3.7m of government funding (24% of revenues). YSM also collected $1.4m in business activities (9% of revenues) and $361k in goods in kind (2% of revenues). Administrative costs are 6% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 29% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 35%. For every dollar donated, 65 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range of overhead spending. 

The charity has $8.7m in reserve funds once $1.6m in current and long-term debt is accounted for. YSM could cover 82% or roughly ten months of its annual program costs with its reserves.

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

Updated on June 12, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.