London Food Bank
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✖
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements available only through official request for information from Charities Directorate.
C+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Good
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
96%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 96 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About London Food Bank:
London Food Bank is a 3-star charity that is not financially transparent. The charity has a Good demonstrated impact rating and a below-average C+ results reporting grade. Its $11.1m reserves exceed Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range and the charity has 4% overhead spending. For every dollar donated, 96 cents are available to go to the cause.
Founded in 1987, London Food Bank (LFB) distributes food to both individuals and organizations in need across the city. It also runs vegetable gardens and salvages excess produce from local farmers. According to the charity, food insecurity within the city is on the rise, with 150,000 food insecure Londoners in 2023 compared with 105,000 people in 2022. LFB spent $3.2m cash on program operations and distributed $9.7m worth of food in the December 2023 fiscal year.
Food distribution is LFB’s main program and covers its food distribution operations. In 2023, LFB distributed 3.6m lb of food (1.2m lb to over 40 organizations and 2.4m lb to 38,775 individuals). The charity distributes its food through food hampers which contain several days’ worth of groceries. In 2023, it distributed 65,188 hampers.
Other programs include LFB’s vegetable gardens and food recovery efforts. LFB partners with local farmers and has rescued 1.7m lb of food since this program’s inception in 2010. The charity also currently operates 14 raised vegetable garden beds as of 2023.
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Results and Impact
Since London Food Bank spent $3.4m cash on its operations and distributed 3.6m lb of food, it spent $0.95 / lb distributed.
Since LFB distributed 2.4m lb of food to 38,775 people, each person received an average of 61 lb in 2023.
LFB reports that thanks to its food recovery efforts, it has prevented nearly 1,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere since 2010.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent London Food Bank’s results and impact.
Ci has given London Food Bank a Good impact rating based on its demonstrated social impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Good
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Finances
London Food Bank is not financially transparent as its audited financial statements are not posted in its website. The charity also did not provide its financials when requested. Accordingly, Ci retrieved its financials from the Charities Directorate after filing a request for information.
LFB’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing as its financials do not clearly separate expenses into program, administrative, and fundraising activities. This is not a best practice.
In 2023, LFB received $4.8m in cash donations (31% of total revenue) and $9.7m worth of donated food (64% of revenue). Administrative costs are 1% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 3$ of donations. Its 4% overhead means that for every dollar donated, 96 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
LFB spent $3.2m cash on its program operations in 2023 – a 64% increase from $1.9m spent in 2022. It also distributed $9.7m worth of donated food which is a 33% increase from $7.3m distributed in 2022.
At the end of 2023, LFB had $11.1m in reserve funds (cash and investments). Its reserves can cover 351% or three years and six months of its annual program spending. Its reserves exceed Ci’s reasonable range of 300%.
Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on July 23, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.7% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 2.9% | 5.2% | 3.3% |
| Total overhead spending | 3.8% | 6.1% | 4.0% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 350.7% | 483.1% | 469.4% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 4,818 | 3,477 | 3,399 |
| Goods in kind | 9,740 | 7,312 | 6,610 |
| Government funding | 110 | 93 | 513 |
| Investment income | 458 | 146 | 82 |
| Other income | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total revenues | 15,126 | 11,029 | 10,603 |
| Program costs | 3,169 | 1,937 | 1,674 |
| Donated goods exp | 9,740 | 7,312 | 6,610 |
| Administrative costs | 129 | 99 | 74 |
| Fundraising costs | 140 | 180 | 113 |
| Total spending | 13,178 | 9,529 | 8,470 |
| Cash flow from operations | 1,948 | 1,500 | 2,133 |
| Capital spending | 77 | 22 | 85 |
| Funding reserves | 11,112 | 9,360 | 7,858 |
Note: 1. LINE-ITEM COSTING: Since LFB follows line-item costing, Ci referred to its T3010 filings wit the CRA to help report program, administrative, and fundraising costs. 2. DEFERRED CONTRIBUTIONS: Since LFB follows deferred accounting, Ci adjusted government funding for changes in deferred contributions to show donors the year-to-year movement of cash within the charity. This affected total revenue by ($24k) in 2023, $17k in 2022, and $112k in 2021.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
1 |
$40k - $80k |
4 |
< $40k |
5 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 519 659-4045