Yellow Brick House
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
B+
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.
85%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 85 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Yellow Brick House:
Yellow Brick House is a 3-star charity that is not financially transparent. It has a results reporting grade of B+ which is above average. For every dollar donated, 85 cents are available to go towards the cause.
Founded in 1978, Yellow Brick House (YBH), formerly Project Hostel, provides comprehensive support for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. This includes a 24/7 crisis support telephone line, emergency shelter, counselling, and domestic violence education services. The charity states that in 2024, 62 women and children in Ontario lost their lives to gender-based violence. In fiscal 2024 (year ended March), Yellow Brick House spent $4.6m on its three programs: Shelter Crisis & Support, Community, Counselling & Support, and Public Education.
Most of the program spending in F2024 was on Shelter Crisis & Support. Yellow Brick House has two shelter locations and operates 41 beds and ten cribs. The charity reports that only 25 of those beds received provincial funding. In F2024, YBH received 1,938 crisis calls and sheltered 67 women and 89 children.
Community Counselling & Support offers individual and group counselling sessions. In F2024, YBH provided 818 individuals with counselling and legal services support, 455 individuals with transitional support, 89 individuals with immigration support, and 99 individuals with mental health support. In F2024, the charity also provided 300 children with counselling and support.
Public Education provides elementary, high school, and college students with abuse and violence prevention workshops. In F2024, Yellow Brick House delivered public education to 2,725 participants.
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Results and Impact
In F2024, Yellow Brick House provided emergency shelter to 164 women and children who would have otherwise had to live with abusers.
While Ci highlights this key result, it may not be a complete representation of Yellow Brick House’s results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).
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Finances
Yellow Brick House is not financially transparent. Ci received the F2024 audited financial statements from the CRA. These financial statements follow line-item costing which means that it does not properly disclose which expenses relate to programming, administrative and fundraising activities. Ci had to use the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA to determine these costs. This is not a best practice.
In F2024, YBH received $3.3m in donations, up 24% from the $2.7m received in F2023. In F2024, the charity also received $3.0m in government funding which represents 47% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 6% of total revenues and fundraising costs are 9% of total donations. For every dollar donated 85 cents are available to go towards the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
In F2024, Yellow Brick House had $9.4m in its reserve funds (cash and investments). This is enough to cover just over two years of annual program costs.
This profile has been sent to Yellow Brick House for review. Changes may be forthcoming.
Updated by Abby Stout on August 21, 2025.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.6% | 2.6% | 2.4% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 9.1% | 13.9% | 11.0% |
| Total overhead spending | 14.7% | 16.5% | 13.4% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 203.1% | 203.8% | 182.5% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 3,336 | 2,694 | 1,896 |
| Government funding | 2,963 | 3,897 | 4,448 |
| Other income | 67 | 609 | (34) |
| Total revenues | 6,366 | 7,200 | 6,309 |
| Program costs | 4,624 | 4,482 | 4,253 |
| Administrative costs | 359 | 185 | 154 |
| Fundraising costs | 304 | 374 | 208 |
| Total spending | 5,287 | 5,041 | 4,616 |
| Cash flow from operations | 1,078 | 2,159 | 1,693 |
| Capital spending | 803 | 1,012 | 53 |
| Funding reserves | 9,390 | 9,136 | 7,764 |
Note: LINE-ITEM COSTING: YBH uses line-item costing, meaning it does not disclose which expenses relate to programming, administrative, and fundraising activities. Ci used the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA to determine these costs. DEFERRED DONATIONS: To report on a cash basis, Ci adjusted for deferred donations. This affected total revenues by $3k in F2024, $12k in F2023, and $9k in F2022. DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Ci adjusted for deferred capital contributions affecting total revenues by $279k in F2024, $743k in F2023, and ($230k) in F2022. DEFERRED GOVERNMENT FUNDING: Ci adjusted for deferred revenue from governmental sources affecting total revenues by ($53k) in F2024, $54k in F2023, and ($37k) in F2022. OTHER DEFERRED: Ci adjusted for all other deferred revenues affecting total revenues by ($346k) in F2024, $358k in F2023, and ($87k) in F2022. AMORTIZATION: Ci removed amortization on a pro-rata basis applied to program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
7 |
$40k - $80k |
2 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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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: 905-709-0900