Young Life

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840385934
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone
7193811800
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Youth Development – Religious Leadership
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$556,261,660
Expenses
$535,771,009
Assets
$440,031,303
Liabilities
$41,532,722

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

44 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NEWT CRENSHAW (PRESIDENT/CEO)
  • WILEY SCOTT (GROUP SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT)
  • NAME WITHHELD FOR SECURITY REASONS (FIELD SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT)
  • CHAD EDWARDS (GROUP SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT)
  • BROOKE JOHNSTON (FIELD SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KENNETH NOLLAN (FIELD SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • NEWT CRENSHAW (PRESIDENT/CEO): $708,001 total reported compensation
  • WILEY SCOTT (GROUP SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT): $414,206 total reported compensation
  • JOHN WAGNER (SVP GLOBAL CITIES INITIATIVE): $406,692 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Young life is a ministry to help adolescents around the world become exposed to the person of jesus christ. This is accomplished in a variety of ways desgined to provide personal, religious experiences. (continued on schedule o)included are weekly club meetings, small group bible studies, nationwide camping programs, and short-term missions.

What it reported doing in 2024

Week-long summer camps and school season weekend camps and activities are offered to students each year. Young life owns and operates 25 world class camping facilites and runs 7 more seasonal camping opportunites through affiliate camping relationships. A total of 134,033 campers and guests were served.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.5%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Pass
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 50th 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: 3.7%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.9%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.5% of revenue deployed · 84.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $454.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $708K · 44 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.2M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 24 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 21 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.