Yonge Street Mission is a 3-star, financially transparent charity with an above-average A- results reporting grade. It has a reasonably sized reserve of cash and investments and 40% overhead spending. For every dollar donated, 60 cents are available to go to the cause.

Founded in 1986, Yonge Street Mission (YSM) aims to end poverty within the city of Toronto by the next generation. It hopes to accomplish this through comprehensive community services for those in need, such as meals, dental appointments, mental health counselling, jobs training, and neighbourhood improvement projects. Clients entering YSM’s programs first have essential needs met (e.g., showers, warm meals, and medical services) before progressing to jobs training, counselling, and other services that help each client eventually live independently.

YSM runs four programs: Evergreen, community development and services, Cornerstone, and Bridges. It spent $12.5m on its programs and helped 6,262 people in the September 2024 fiscal year (F2024).

Evergreen was 38% of YSM’s program spending ($4.7m) and involves services tailored to youths. In F2024, YSM provided dental services to youths through 3,289 appointments, provided 2,518 hours of mental health counselling (1,800 hours in F2023), and reported 874 appointments at its Evergreen Health & Dental Centre. The charity also distributed 31,267 meals to youths during F2024.

Community development and services was 26% of YSM’s program spending ($3.2m) and includes neighbourhood improvement projects in Toronto’s Regent Park community. It also includes food distributed to those in need at its drop-in food bank. In F2024, YSM involved 301 Regent Park residents in community enhancement initiatives. YSM’s food bank also saw 42,011 visits in F2024.

Cornerstone was 23% of YSM’s program spending ($2.9m) and includes childcare, education, and skills development activities offered to families. In F2024, YSM’s daycare ran 14,757 childcare sessions for 108 children. The charity did not report the duration of each session at the time of this profile update. YSM also ran computer skills training classes attended by 696 people in F2024.

Bridges was 13% of YSM’s program spending ($1.7m) and includes programming targeting adults aged 18-60. It provides meals, job training, and other program services. In F2024, YSM provided 24,475 meals to adults.

Yonge Street Mission’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing – a best practice. This means it clearly separates out its expenses by program, administrative, and fundraising activities.

In F2024, YSM received $9.5m in donations (56% of total revenue) and $3.9m in government funding (23% of revenue). Administrative costs are 7% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 33% of donations. Its 40% overhead spending means that for every dollar donated, 60 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable overhead spending range.

YSM spent $12.5m on its programs in F2024 – a 7% increase from $11.6m spent in F2023.

At the end of F2024, YSM had $5.3m worth of net reserves (cash and investments). Its reserves can cover 43% or just over five months of its annual program spending.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on July 8, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.

Questions? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca