Backpack Buddies is a 5-star charity. It has excellent disclosure, with an A+ grade for results reporting. Its funding reserves are within Ci’s reasonable range and can cover six months of annual program costs. For every dollar donated to Backpack Buddies, 78 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range.

A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 100 Rated Charity.

Backpack Buddies, established in 2012 as the Community First Foundation, works to reduce child hunger across British Columbia by providing weekend food to children facing food insecurity. The charity reports that one in three children in BC experience food insecurity, while 147,570 children live in poverty. Backpack Buddies provides bags of nutritious, ready-to-eat food every Friday, so children have enough to eat over the weekend, when school meal programs are unavailable. A typical backpack contains three breakfasts, two lunches, three dinners, and three snacks, including fresh fruit and vegetables. In F2025, Backpack Buddies spent $4.1m on its program.

The charity filled 193,303 backpacks in F2025, containing 869,863 lb of food, providing 1,555,584 meals to more than 6,000 children across British Columbia. On average, it cost Backpack Buddies $22 to fill a backpack and $5 per pound of food delivered. Each backpack contained an average of 4.5 lb of food. The charity distributed 147,000 lb of fresh fruit and vegetables through 392 school distribution sites and drove 50,218 km to deliver food, with its furthest delivery reaching Stewart, BC, 1,481 km away.

Backpack Buddies’ audited financial statements use line-item costing which is not a best practice. Charity Intelligence had to use the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA to determine program, fundraising, and administrative costs.

The charity had total revenues of $4.9m in F2025. It received $4.3m in Canadian donations, representing 88% of revenue, and $129k in international donations. Government funding was $393k, accounting for 8% of revenue.

Backpack Buddies spent $4.1m on its programs, which is 84% of its revenue. The charity recorded a deficit of $178k in F2025. This means it drew on its reserves to fund its operations.

Administrative costs were $102k, representing 2% of revenue (excluding investment income). It spent $867k on fundraising, equal to 20% of donations. Total overhead spending was 22%. For every dollar donated to Backpack Buddies, 78 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Backpack Buddies held $2.0m in reserve funds (cash and investments) in F2025. These reserves can cover six months of annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

This is a charity update that has been sent to Backpack Buddies by Neela Jalilian on July 12, 2026.