Youth Fusion is a 2-star charity with Low demonstrated impact. It is not financially transparent and has an A- results reporting grade, which is above average. Its overhead spending is 30%, which is within Ci’s reasonable range. Its reserve funds can cover program costs for less than one month, which is also within Ci’s reasonable range.

Founded in 2009, Youth Fusion (YF) works with schools, teachers, and community members to offer various educational programs across Canada during and after-school hours. Its modules focus on experiential learning that prioritizes hands-on projects.

The charity spent $4.4m on its programs in the fiscal year ending August 2024 (F2024). YF has five main programs: Indigenous Communities Programs, Arts and Culture, Science and Engineering, Design, and Leadership and Entrepreneurship. In F2024, it helped 5,960 youths across all its programs. Their program coordinators provided 52,994 hours of support for YF’s youth.

Indigenous Communities Programs got 36% ($1.6m) of program costs in F2024. These programs are extensions of the charity’s existing programs but occur in Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities YF serves include Inuit, Cree, Innu, Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Ojibwa, and Kanien’kéha. It offers Science of the Land projects which provide hands-on scientific and cultural activities that relate to the closest Indigenous community location. Other projects include cooking classes, sports and fitness activities, relaxation workshops, leadership workshops, and art performances. In F2024, 5,106 activities were carried out in Indigenous communities and 22 projects were completed.

Arts and Culture got 29% ($1.3m) of program costs in F2024. This program offers workshops that relate to cinema, filmmaking, editing, handling technical equipment, and applying film promotion strategies. It also features a play production run by students. In F2024, YF completed 26 cinema projects, 23 media productions projects, and 43 dramatic arts projects.

Science and Engineering got 21% ($915k) of program costs in F2024. This program encourages students to problem-solve by designing innovative projects, such as LEGO robots, video games, and other forms of technology. In F2024, YF completed 33 video game design projects, 21 digital literacy projects and four artificial intelligence projects.

Design got 9% ($379k) of program costs in F2024. This program teaches students about environmental and fashion design. Students carry out environmental analysis and design their own fashion projects. In F2024, YF completed 11 environmental design projects and three fashion design projects.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship got 6% ($274k) of program costs in F2024. This program aims to encourage students to understand and develop a social enterprise. In F2024, YF completed 14 entrepreneurship projects.

Youth Fusion is not financially transparent. YF’s audited financial statements are not posted on its website but were provided to Ci when requested. Its audited financial statements follow activity-based costing, a financial reporting best practice. This means the charity provided a breakdown of program and administrative expenses. However, its financials do not provide a breakdown between administrative and fundraising costs. 

YF received $2.0m in donations in F2024, which is 46% of total revenue. In F2024, it received $2.8m in government funding, which is 63% of revenue. This is a 23% decrease from the $3.6m government funding in F2023. YF spent $4.4 on its programs in F2024, which is 99% of revenue. In F2024, it recorded a deficit of $1.3m.

YF spent $1.3m on fundraising and administrative costs, which is 30% of revenue. This means YF has total overhead spending of 30%. For every dollar donated to YF, 70 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

YF has $127k in reserve funds (cash and investments). Its reserve funds can cover 3% or less than one month its annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

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

Updated on June 13, 2025, by Leah DeFrancesco.