2021-2022 Annual Report

Message from CAO

Fiscal 2022 was the second year that NYSA faced the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, our operation had stayed open and served Nanaimo youth through 2021, so we had become comfortable operating in that circumstance. Our programs operated at near capacity throughout the year while our finances continued to improve somewhat. During the year, we were fortunate to be able to move the organization fully onto the Microsoft 365 platform with new laptop computers, which allowed staff to work from nearly anywhere if they had the need. The move also lowered NYSA’s information technology costs while making our network and data more secure.

Looking at our mission in the context of current circumstance, has revealed that we need to be doing more to support youth who are homelessness or at-risk-of-homelessness as this challenge is growing year over year. Youth cannot focus effectively on job training, life skills enhancements or other personal skills building, until they have permanent, safe homes.

Homeless adults have made decisions that caused them to become homeless – young people are homeless because an adult in their lives made decisions that forced them into the situation.  NYSA plans to tackle this challenge going forward: our plan is set out below.

Once again, the success of the organization is due to the continued commitment of NYSA employees. The demands of nonprofit work, especially in the areas of social service, are stressful, demanding and often ignore standard office hours. NYSA staff have embraced this situation and show their passion through the good work that is accomplished. I thank them for their work and I am pleased to be able to work beside them.

– Keith Wilson

Housing

There is a definite need to increase the number of affordable rental units available to young people in Nanaimo. There is also a need for purpose-built transitional housing – where youth are exposed to safe, routine, positive habit-forming behaviours and where they see an opportunity to develop a bright future for themselves.

2021-2022 Metrics:

• 00 youth housed in transitional housing in 2021-2022
• 00 youth housed in affordable housing in 2021-2022

2022-2023 Goals:

• Create a sustainable financial plan for additional transitional youth housing in Nanaimo
• Develop a business case for another significant affordable housing development for young people and families in our community.

Financial Stability

It is common in the nonprofit sector for charities to run lean — there is never enough money to run a program the way it could be run. Typically, funders will not provide for administration or overhead costs to run the agency. Areas such as finance and accounting, agency management, communications and HR are often run off of the side of a program head’s desk. NYSA is typical of an agency in this position. However, this goal focuses energies on developing funding sources that are not program specific. With increased non-designated funding, NYSA will stand a better chance of developing internal strength in management and administrative support.

2021-2022 Metrics:

• Created Director of Fund Development position and filled it
• First major fundraiser organized for September 2022 raised in excess of $50,000

2022-2023 Goals

• Further increase the contribution of non-designated funding from unique fundraising campaigns
• Conduct a review of options to diversify NYSA’s revenue streams

Stories We Can’t Forget

Youth Story

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Board Story

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