Calgary Food Bank
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
B+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
High
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.
94%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 94 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Calgary Food Bank:
Calgary Food Bank is a five-star, financially transparent charity with a High impact rating. It has an above-average B+ results reporting grade and a reasonably sized reserve fund. For every dollar donated, 94 cents are available to go to the cause.
Founded in 1982, Calgary Food Bank (CFB) collects and gives out food to Calgarians facing food insecurity. The charity specifically distributes food hampers containing 7-10 days’ worth of food to clients, runs a school breakfast program with Breakfast Club of Canada, and disperses food to other food banks in Calgary.
Calgary Food Bank runs two program groups: Emergency Food Hampers and Other Programs (Breakfast Club, Food Link, Mobile Hampers, Satellite Locations, Food Share, and Food Grants). The charity spent $14.8m cash on its programs and distributed $42.2m worth of food in the fiscal year ending in August 2024 (F2024).
CFB did not provide a spending breakdown for its programs in its F2024 annual report or audited financial statements at the time of this update.
A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 100 Rated Charity
Emergency Food Hampers is Calgary Food Bank's main program. The charity distributes bundles of food containing protein products (28%), grains (18%), fruits and vegetables (47%), and other food types (7%). During F2024, the charity distributed 173,354 hampers to 106,758 unique clients. This is a 20% increase from 144,760 hampers distributed in F2023.
Other programs include collaborations with other organizations and street outreach. In F2024, CFB served a nutritious breakfast to 4,000 students across 43 schools in its collaboration with Breakfast Club of Canada. The charity also provided 1.6m lb of food to 50 organizations. Calgary Food Bank’s outreach teams also distributed 22,243 food hampers at 23 popup locations across Calgary during F2024.
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Results and Impact
According to Calgary Food Bank’s F2024 audited financial statements, it distributed 12.7m lb of food during F2024.
Since CFB distributed 173,354 food hampers to 106,758 clients, each client received an average of 1.6 hampers during F2024.
Calgary Food Bank’s research team published a report covering the charity’s social return on investment (SROI) generated by its emergency food hampers program during F2024. In this report, the charity interviewed 31 clients on the long-term benefits of receiving food hampers and verified its findings with a survey of 1,000 clients. According to the charity, for every $1 dollar donated, Calgary Food Bank generated $9.84 worth of social and economic value.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Calgary Food Bank’s full results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Calgary Food Bank a High impact rating based on its demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 5 Impact: Calgary Charities.
Impact Rating: High
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Finances
In F2024, Calgary Food Bank received $22.0m worth of cash donations and $42.2m worth of donated food, representing 33% and 63% of total revenue, respectively. The charity did not receive any government funding during F2024.
Administrative costs are 5% of total revenue and fundraising costs are 1% of donations. This means CFB has 6% total overhead spending. For every dollar donated, 94 cents are available to go to the cause.
During F2024, CFB spent $14.8m to operate its programs and distributed $42.2m worth of food. Its program spending increased 10% from $13.5m reported in F2023.
At the end of F2024, CFB had $33.3m in net reserve funds (cash and investments) which covers 224% or around two years and three months of its annual program spending.
Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on March 21, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending August
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.1% | 3.9% | 4.2% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.6% |
| Total overhead spending | 5.8% | 4.7% | 4.8% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 224.3% | 208.5% | 207.8% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 22,023 | 20,137 | 16,623 |
| Goods in kind | 42,189 | 42,118 | 31,630 |
| Government funding | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Investment income | 2,209 | 1,111 | 294 |
| Other income | 191 | 340 | 739 |
| Total revenues | 66,612 | 63,706 | 49,286 |
| Program costs | 14,847 | 13,460 | 12,160 |
| Donated goods exp | 42,189 | 42,118 | 31,630 |
| Administrative costs | 3,256 | 2,461 | 2,058 |
| Fundraising costs | 173 | 159 | 106 |
| Total spending | 60,464 | 58,199 | 45,954 |
| Cash flow from operations | 6,148 | 5,507 | 3,332 |
| Capital spending | 278 | 2,499 | 3,788 |
| Funding reserves | 33,296 | 28,067 | 25,268 |
Note: 1. CHANGES IN DEFERRED DONATIONS: CFB follows deferred accounting, so Ci adjusted revenue and expenses to show financial information on a consistent basis. Ci adjusted revenue for changes in deferred donations, affecting it by ($75k), ($75k), and $7k in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 2. CHANGES IN DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION: Ci adjusted donations for changes in deferred capital contributions, affecting revenue by ($56k), ($110k), and ($4k) in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 3. CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT REMITTANCES PAYABLE: Ci adjusted program costs for changes in government remittances payable, affecting expenses by $12k, ($93k), and ($23k) in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 4. UNREALIZED INVESTMENT GAINS (LOSSES): Ci adjusted revenue for changes in unrealized investment gains and losses, affecting it by ($526k), ($276k), and $540k in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 5. AMORTIZATION: Ci backed out amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
1 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
5 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Calgary Food Bank added the following comment in 2014. New comments may be forthcoming.
At the Calgary Food Bank transparency and accountability to the community is taken very seriously. We also recognize that the ongoing sharing of information can occur in many different ways. We encourage all of our donors to contact us directly if they have feedback or cannot find information that they require through our website. Please contact us at 403-253-2059 or info@calgaryfoodbank.com
Learn More: 2023-2024 Annual Report
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 403-253-2059