Young Life of Canada is a 2-star, Low demonstrated impact charity. It is not fully financially transparent and has a D+ results reporting grade which is below average. Its overhead spending is 12% which is within Ci’s reasonable range. Its reserve funds are less than its total interest-bearing debts.

Founded in 1954, Young Life of Canada (YLOC) aims to create a community for teenagers and encourage them to know Jesus Christ. YLOC works to achieve this community through mentor relationships between volunteer leaders and teenagers.

YLOC runs six programs: Contact Work, Club, Campaigners, Camp, Skatelife, and Capernaum. The charity spent $12.2m on its programs in the fiscal year ending September 2024 (F2024). The charity does not provide a spending breakdown on its programs.

Contact Work consists of leaders who spend time with teens at school, sporting events, malls, coffee shops, skate parks and other recreational spaces.

Club consists of regular meetings hosted by YLOC volunteer leaders and staff for teens to talk about the Christian faith. It is launched by the relationships they have built through Contact Work. In F2024, Club had 425 volunteer leaders.

Campaigners consists of weekly group meetings of student leaders (campaigners). Its purpose is to gather with a smaller group of friends, learn about the Christian faith, and discuss leadership of the YLOC Club. In F2024, YLOC had 314 campaigners.

Camp provides an opportunity for teens to attend a resort camp called RockRidge Canyon near Princeton, British Columbia. Teens can also attend the Saranac Village camp, located in New York. In F2024, volunteers spent 24,500 hours at Camp for the 1,178 teens who attended.

Skatelife aims to build relationships with teens by immersing YLOC workers into the “skate scene.” Its activities include skate sessions, contests, games, lessons, and camps at skateparks. This program reached six Canadian provinces, which include Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.

Capernaum aims to help young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities build friendships and self-esteem through Club, Camp and other activities. Charity Intelligence found little information on this program.

In F2024, YLOC reported to contact 4,861 kids through its field work, but did not specify which programs these kids were a part of.

Young Life of Canada’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing, which is not a best practice. This means Ci referred to YLOC’s T3010 filings with the CRA Charities Directorate to report program, administrative and fundraising costs. The charity is not fully financially transparent because it only posts the most recent year’s audited financial statements on its website.

YLOC has an associated foundation called the Young Life of Canada Foundation that helps fund the work at YLOC.

YLOC received $10.8m in donations in F2024, which is 70% of total revenue. It spent $12.2m on its programs in F2024, which is 79% of revenue. YLOC recorded a surplus of $1.6m (11% of revenue) in F2024.

YLOC spent $356k on fundraising costs, which is 3% of donations. It spent $1.3m on administrative costs, which is 8% of revenue. YLOC has total overhead spending of 12%. For every dollar donated to YLOC, 88 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

YLOC has ($3.4m) in reserve funds (cash and investments). Its program cost coverage ratio is negative because its total interest-bearing debts exceed the charity’s gross funding reserves on its balance sheet. Excluding its debts, YLOC can cover 5%, or less than one month of program costs with its reserves. 

This report is an update that has been sent to Young Life of Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. Updated on June 11, 2025, by Leah DeFrancesco.