Choices for Youth
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.
A-
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
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.
77%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 77 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Choices for Youth:
Choices for Youth is a 5-star charity. It is financially transparent and has above-average results reporting and overhead costs within Ci's reasonable range.
Founded in 1990, Choices for Youth (CFY) helps young people in St. John’s, Newfoundland secure stable housing, employment, and education while improving their health and family stability. Working with youth, the charity hopes to prevent long-term homelessness and poverty in adulthood. CFY takes a "housing first" approach, first finding people a stable place to live and then helping them with employment, family relationships, and other needs. In Canada, there are approximately 65,000 homeless youths. In St. John, 23% of the homeless population is 16-24 years old.
A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity
To work towards breaking the cycle of poverty and homelessness, CFY runs four programs: Housing Programs and Services; Social Enterprises and Youth Employment; Health, Outreach and Young Engagement; and Family Programs and Services. In F2022, CFY reported helping a total of 1,075 youths. Its head office is in St. John, Newfoundland.
Social Enterprises and Youth Employment – 38% of program cost: Its goal is to help youth find employment or further their education. CFY runs three social enterprises that generate revenue while providing its clients job opportunities, including Impact Construction, Neighbourhood (a gently used clothing store), and The Shop (a manufacturing and shipping service). In F2022, the charity helped 84 youths get a job, with more than 36,000 hours of insurable employment.
Housing Programs and Services – 37% of program cost: CFY has three homeless shelters that offer emergent shelter for males and gender non-conforming individuals (Choices Shelter) and longer-term housing options for youth in need (The Lilly and RallyForward). In F2022, CFY housed 89 youth. With 54 housing units, it had 3,074 shelter night stays with an 86% occupancy rate. It also served 9,980 meals during the year.
Family Programs and Services – 13% of program cost: Its goal is to connect and stabilize families to create healthy homes. In F2022, CFY supported 84 moms and 128 children through this program. It provided 108 counseling sessions for families.
Outreach and Young Engagement – 11% of program cost: Through its Outreach and Youth Engagement Centre, CFY offers youth hot meals, mental and physical health support, and recreational programs. In F2022, there were 618 engagements with its medical team. The charity also trained 25 individuals on Naloxone usage.
The remaining 1% of program spending went to Homelessness Partnership Strategy in F2022.
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Results and Impact
Through its Social Enterprises and Youth Employment program, Choices for Youth helped 31 youths transition to post-secondary education in F2022. The number of youths staying in stable and safe housing increased by 24%.
In F2022, through family programs and services, 91% of moms reduced their use of emergency health care services. The number of moms attaining high school equivalency increased by 27%. CFY helped 100% of moms in the program find stable housing.
Ci highlighted these key results. They may not be a complete representation of Choices for Youth's results. Charity Intelligence has not assessed impact on CFY. This shows as n/r, meaning not rated.
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Finances
Choices for Youth received $2.4m in donations in F2022. CFY also received $8.0m in government funding, representing 71% of its total revenues. Administrative costs are 12% of revenues (less investment income), and fundraising costs are 11% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 23%. For every dollar donated, 77 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Choices for Youth has $4.2m in gross reserve funds and $508k in interest-bearing debts. The charity could cover about six months of program costs using net funding reserves.
This charity profile is an update that has been sent to Choices for Youth for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on May 31, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 12.1% | 10.3% | 16.8% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 11.0% | 42.1% | 54.6% |
Total overhead spending | 23.1% | 52.4% | 71.4% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 52.3% | 19.0% | 1.2% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 2,438 | 676 | 549 |
Government funding | 8,019 | 7,823 | 6,429 |
Fees for service | 217 | 232 | 310 |
Business activities (net) | 646 | 808 | 500 |
Investment income | 2 | 6 | 20 |
Total revenues | 11,321 | 9,545 | 7,809 |
Program costs | 7,122 | 6,557 | 5,924 |
Administrative costs | 1,365 | 981 | 1,310 |
Fundraising costs | 269 | 285 | 300 |
Total spending | 8,756 | 7,823 | 7,534 |
Cash flow from operations | 2,566 | 1,722 | 274 |
Capital spending | 200 | 201 | 282 |
Funding reserves | 3,724 | 1,245 | 71 |
Note: Ci adjusted for deferred donations, affecting revenues by $1.3m in F2022 and ($125k) in F2021. Ci adjusted for deferred government funding, increasing revenues by $874k in F2022 and $1.4m in F2021. Revenues from social enterprises are reflected in business activities revenue but not presented net. Ci reported social enterprise costs as program costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
1 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
5 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 709.754.0446