Youth Outright Wnc Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, youth outright saw great growth, adapted to changes, and overcame unique challenges. We started the year by moving into the tzedek social justice funds building, where staff would have offices and our programs would have a home base in their community room. We increased our in-person programs from one per month to one per week on wednesdays. Our programs team worked to strengthen our curricular offerings, including topics like binary mapping, zine making for social change, neurodivergence and queerness, social justice history, and so much more. Offering more programs at a consistent location led to increased participation and greater exposure for our organization. For the first two quarters of 2024, we evaluated youth needs and developed a clearer vision for what a queer and trans youth center could offer this region. We also hired a communications intern to meet the need for more marketing to reach our core audience. At the end of may, our executive director of six years moved on to a position at the gsa network, with which we work closely in our role as the gsa network of North Carolina. In 2024, we had over 170 gsa clubs registered with us throughout the state, which we support through curricular resources, trainings, and advocacy. In the midst of a significant staffing transition, our staff and board of directors had transparent and honest conversations about next steps. We decided that, instead of conducting an executive director search, we redirected resources to opening a youth center and addressing staff pay equity. Now all of our staff make the same base pay, and we are a livable wage certified. We named our programs director and fund development director as interim co-executive directors for the remainder of the year. Under new leadership and with the seeds of opening a center planted, new collaborations and initiatives were emerging. Youth outright initiated a formal two-year partnership with clemson university's reyse program, which provided the organization with impactful, peer-reviewed insights into our programming, as well as programmatic support. In june, we kicked off pride month by hosting our 13th annual queer youth prom where we welcomed nearly 200 lgbtqia+ youth to a fantasy themed night of fun. This is one of our most cherished events and provides young queer and trans people with a safe, affirming space to experiece a prom with their peers. Our annual stonewall pride family picnic concluded the month of celebrations with a drag story hour, picnic, and activities in the park. With a center on the horizon, we saw a need for more program staffing. The youth fellowship, in turn, became two part-time program associate positions. We also transitioned our communications intern into a communication manager role to help increase awareness of our work. As youth outright grew organizationally, we sought to establish new avenues for youth voices to guide our work. We developed our first youth advisory board, which helped shape the design of our new programming, ensuring that our work was both youth-led and youth-focused. This board is paid for their time and commitment to shaping the future of our organization. After 15 years of youth outright primarily operating as a remote organization, our dream of acquiring an lgbtqia+ youth center came to fruition in july 2024. We spent two months seeking in-kind donations, building furniture, and decorating a seven-room space to serve as an affirming hub for our programs and services. We hired an operations manager in august to help run the center and increase staff capacity. On september 9th, we opened our doors to the first and only queer and trans youth center in the 18-county region of western North Carolina (wnc). We began offering two drop-in days per week in addition to our weekly programs. We are proud that all of our programs and services are completely free to youth thanks to the support of donors. As we were getting our footing, wnc was hit by one of the mo

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 54.8%; rating input score 55
• Program expense ratio: 75.2%; rating input score 75
• Fundraising efficiency: $15.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 27.2%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 40.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 24% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings