An independent fiscal review of Church at the Park, one of Salem’s main shelter providers, says the nonprofit directs about 91% of its funding to program services, challenging social media claims that most of its budget goes to staff pay instead of shelters.
The review, based on IRS filings, contracts and board documents, looks at roughly $7.8 million in taxpayer-supported funding Church at the Park received in 2023–24 for micro-shelter villages, safe parking sites and related work in Marion and Polk counties.
Online critics have claimed that “9% of expenses went to shelters and 67% to salaries,” folding the organization into a narrative about a “homelessness industrial complex.” The new analysis says that misreads how nonprofit accounting works and how modern shelter systems operate.
According to the review, the “9%” figure is Church at the Park’s administrative overhead rate — spending on finance, HR, insurance, legal and other back-office functions. That means about 91% of revenue is booked as “Program Services,” the standard category for direct service work.
Inside that program spending, salaries are the largest single expense, at around 67%. Founding Pastor and Director DJ Vincent said that reflects the fact that the work is staff-driven, not building-driven.
“Excellent. So the work we do is very much relational intervention. So our work started for the first 12 years as an outreach intervention,” he said. He described outreach case managers, safe parking staff including a coordinator and peer support specialists, and five shelters where case managers, peer support, reception, overnight shift leads and food and hospitality staff keep sites “safe, supported” 24 hours a day, backed up by state-certified safety staff, managers and program directors.
Those positions fall in the program category, not administration, which Vincent said is limited to small teams in finance, HR, data and systems plus communications. Separate board documents place the administrative rate at about 9% through mid-2024, below common charity benchmarks that flag concerns when overhead climbs past 15%.
The review comes as Church at the Park is already cutting back. A roughly 20% reduction in its contract with Oregon Housing and Community Services — about $2 million — led to 29 positions being eliminated, including 16 immediate layoffs, and a 50% capacity cut at its Turner Road young adult site. Vincent said he would need more time to calculate what share of the budget goes only to people managing and running shelter sites, but noted that “the 67 is, you know, all program staff.”
Whether that spending “works,” he said, is measured in exits, not line items. “The number one key performance indicator that we expect of ourselves and that other people expect of us is that, you know, we’re moving people from sidewalks and parks into stable housing and permanent housing spots,” Vincent said. Over the last five years of shelter operations, he said, “over 50%” of people in their shelters have moved into housing.
The review cites 203 people exiting to “positive housing destinations” in 2023, along with city data showing sharp drops in emergency room visits and 911 calls among guests after they move into micro-shelters. Safe Parking, which served more than 1,200 people living in vehicles in 2023, costs about $700 per spot per month for sanitation, security and support — far less than a night in jail or the hospital.
Vincent said he understands why residents question the spending when tents are still visible around the city. “I first of all, validate their frustration that they feel like we’re spending a lot on intervention and they keep hearing about a lot of people are getting into housing. A lot of people are being sheltered and yet I still see people in tents,” he said. At the same time, he pointed to an estimated 1,200 people sheltered nightly in the community and said he is “deeply grateful” for the investment and trust that make those outcomes possible.
The review finds no evidence of financial mismanagement, but warns that reliance on short-term grants and unstable state funding leaves Church at the Park — and the people it serves — exposed to sudden cuts even as demand for shelter and housing help continues to grow.
Below are two comparative years of audited financials. It is also the 8 million budget and calculations the comments were based on. The 2024 audit is still being finalized by the auditors.
Churct at the Park Financial Statements