Save Our Youth Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 841295393
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Denver, CO, USA
- Phone
- 3034551126
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Delinquency Prevention
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,050,141
- Expenses
- $1,906,593
- Assets
- $3,462,015
- Liabilities
- $130,474
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RUSSEL DAINS (PRESIDENT/CE)
Highest reported compensation
- RUSSEL DAINS (PRESIDENT/CE): $142,166 total reported compensation
- DON KERNS (TREASURER): $99,563 total reported compensation
- CANDACE MITCHELL (SECRETARY): $45,220 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Save our youth is a transformative one-to-one youth mentoring program dedicated to eradicating financial, emotional, spiritual, and relational poverty among young people across the denver metro area. Through consistent, supportive mentoring relationships, save our youth empowers youth to grow academically, emotionally, and socially, bridging the gap between potential and opportunity. Our individualized mentoring model fosters resiliance, cultivates hope, and supports long-term success through trusted relationships, community partnerships, and a nurturing, strengths- based environment.
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025, save our youth provided transformative mentoring services to 296 young individuals in the denver metro area and longmont, co, facilitating 96 new mentor-mentee matches. Plus, there were 125 new mentor applicants in 2025. Our holistic approach to mentoring, informed by research from the national mentoring partnership, is yielding significant positive outcomes. Mentored youth are 55% more likely to enroll in college, 52% less likely to skip school, 78% more likely to volunteer regularly, and 130% more likely to hold leadership positions. This impactful investment is underscored by data showing that every dollar allocated to quality youth mentoring programs yields a 3 return in societal benefits (source: the mentoring effect, 2014). Additionally, save our youth boasts a commendable 92% on- time high school graduation rate, with an average match length of 29 months. 70% of mentees who initially reported feeling loneliness no longer report feeling lonely. Through our comprehensive approach, we ensure that young people receive the emotional, academic, and resource support necessary for generational transformation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 70%; rating input score 70
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 7%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.82; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66.3% of revenue deployed · 70% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $142K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.