FoodShare is a 2-star, financially transparent charity with a Low impact rating and an above-average B+ results reporting grade. Its reserves can finance just over five months of its annual program spending. It has 9% overhead, meaning for every dollar donated, 91 cents are available to go to the cause.

Founded in 1985 and operating in Toronto, FoodShare aims to reduce food insecurity within the city by operating community produce gardens and running affordable food markets. It also raises awareness of food insecurity, particularly with respect to visible minorities and other disadvantaged groups, through advocacy and education workshops. According to FoodShare, Black households are 3.56 times more likely to be food insecure compared to white households within Canada.

FoodShare runs four programs: Community Learning & Engagement, Community Food Growing, Community Action Support, and Social Enterprises. It spent $7.4m on its programs in the December 2024 fiscal year. FoodShare did not provide a program spending breakdown at the time of this profile update.

Ci referred to the charity’s 2023 annual report for program results as it is the latest publicly available information at the time of this profile update. In 2023, FoodShare funded 261 community projects and helped 204,000 people across its four programs.

Community Learning & Engagement involves kitchen training workshops targeting public school students. According to FoodShare, these workshops provide essential cooking skills needed later in life that reduce food insecurity. In 2023, FoodShare held 132 cooking sessions attended by 1,487 youths. The charity also hired three professional chefs who taught lessons to a further 1,457 students in 2023.

Community Food Growing includes FoodShare’s community gardens held at Flemington Park and other pop-up locations across Toronto. People who attend plant seeds, grow produce, and learn essential gardening skills. In 2023, the charity planted 10,000 seeds and harvested over 40,000 lb of produce at its Flemington Park garden. According to the charity, nearly 14,000 people visited its Flemington Park garden.

Community Action Support involves advocacy mobilization targeting food insecurity within Toronto. FoodShare offers advocacy preparation and training courses for those looking to raise food insecurity awareness to local and regional policymakers. In 2023, it offered 11 training courses which were attended by 179 people.

Social Enterprises is a program where FoodShare sells food to wholesalers across the city. According to the charity, earnings from this program fund food social justice work. FoodShare did not report any quantified results for this program at the time of this profile update.

FoodShare’s audited financial statements do not properly separate expenses into program, administrative, and fundraising activities (line-item costing). This is not a best practice.

In 2024, FoodShare received $3.4m in donations (51% of total revenue) and $558k of government funding (8% of revenue). It also earned $2.3m from its social enterprise and rental income (34% of revenue).

Administrative costs are 5% of total revenue excluding investment income, and fundraising costs are 4% of donations. Its 9% overhead means that for every dollar donated, 91 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

FoodShare spent $7.4m on its programs in 2024 – a 4% decrease from $7.6m spent in 2023. In 2024, the charity renamed the Good Food Markets subprogram to Community Markets Support after paid consultations with stakeholders. According to the charity, the old name moralized some food as good, which created a stigma against communities who struggled to access ‘good’ food.

At the end of 2024, FoodShare had $3.4m gross and $3.2m net reserves. Ci backed out $194k in outstanding line-of-credit debt from its gross reserves. Its net reserves can cover 43% or just over five months of its program spending.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on August 15, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.

Questions? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca