CityKidz is a 4-star charity. It is financially transparent and has an above-average results reporting grade and overhead spending within Ci’s reasonable range.

Founded in 1993, CityKidz is a Christian charity that works to develop supportive relationships with children and youth from low-income communities in Hamilton. It has smaller branches in Regina and Ottawa that do similar activities, but they are separate charities. CityKidz reports that one in five Canadian children is growing up in poverty, and over 1,200 children in Hamilton go hungry every weekend. The charity aims to provide the necessary love, guidance, and support so that children can escape poverty. CityKidz operates weekly programs, including CityKidz Saturday and CityYouth Wednesday, and other core projects. It does not provide a spending breakdown among its programs.

CityKidz runs CityKidz Saturday program for kids aged 3 to 11. Hosted in the charity’s Studio Theatre, kids are taught that they are loved by God, how to choose what is right, and that they can dream big. Meals are distributed to children attending the program. The charity’s iconic red buses pick kids up and bring them to the theatre because many would otherwise have no transportation. In F2022, it organized 12 Saturday sessions in Studio Theatre for 309 children with an average of 142 kids attending each session.

CityYouth program is for youth aged 12 to 15. The program focuses on helping teens develop and practice leadership skills by mentoring them to explore their identity, wisdom, faith and relationships. In F2022, the charity ran 17 in-person and two Zoom CityYouth mentorship sessions for 182 teens.

CityKidz’s core projects include Home Visits, Gift of Christmas, Operation Birthday Child, and Camp CityKidz. During the week, CityKidz's teams of employees, volunteers, and graduates visit children at home. These visits have always been important to CityKidz’s programming because they strengthen individual relationships between kids and volunteers. In F2022, there were 12,079 home visits to 589 households. For other projects, 2,028 toys were distributed to Hamilton children at Christmas and 1,017 birthday gifts were delivered. During the same year, 198 children attended Camp CityKidz in the summer.

CityKidz also provides education funds to support youth's post-secondary education. In F2022, it granted 24 scholarships to 21 teens and young adults.

In F2022, CityKidz received $2.7m in donations. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues, and fundraising costs are 9% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 14%. For every dollar donated, 86 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.  

CityKidz has $1.5m in reserve funds. The charity could cover 75% or around nine months of its annual program costs with its reserves. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to CityKidz for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on July 6, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.