Founded in 1981, Edmonton’s Food Bank (EFB) aims to collect excess and donated food for distribution, free of charge, to people in need. EFB also seeks to find long term solutions to the causes of hunger. In March 2018, there were 1.1 million visits to Canadian food banks, 35% of which were from children. Edmonton’s Food Bank combats these issues with eight programs. Its programs are Beyond Food, Retail Food, Hamper Program, Second Helping, Meal & Snack, S.N.A.C.K Program, Alberta Hunters Sharing the Harvest, and Plant A Row| Grow A Row | Share A Row. 

In F2018, Edmonton’s Food Bank distributed $22.1m worth of food. EFB collected, repackaged and distributed four million kilograms of food to over 250 local agencies. These charities provided 500,000 free meals every month and served more than 20,000 people through hampers each month in 2018. Peak demand for the food bank’s hamper program was in May (24,000 clients), and March (23,400 clients). In 2018, an average of 22,033 clients per month received hampers which was up from 20,500 in F2016 but down from 22,240 in F2017. As well, EFB reports that its Beyond Food Program served 16 people daily in 2018.  

Edmonton’s Food Bank performed a survey in 2015, and again in 2018 to learn about the demographics of its clients. EFB found that only 22% of its clients were employed in the three months prior to completion of the survey and that there was an increase from 53% to 72% of people with a household income of less than $25k per year from 2015 to 2018. Moreover, 68% of respondents reported that their children do not receive snacks or meals at school. EFB therefore stresses there is a significant need for Canadian food banks and aid towards hunger prevention.  

Edmonton’s Food Bank is a large charity, receiving $5.3m in monetary donations in F2018. EFB also received $22.1m in food donations. Ci used the charity's T3010A CRA filings for administrative and fundraising costs breakdowns in F2017 and F2016. The  F2018 file was not available at the time of the update, and as such F2018 overhead spending is likely understated.  F2018 administrative costs are 1% of revenues and fundraising costs are 6% of donations. For every dollar donated, 93 cents go to the cause in F2018, compared to 84 cents in F2017, both of which are within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.  

Edmonton’s Food Bank has funding reserves of $4.8m, which can cover program costs, excluding donated food, for just over two months. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Edmonton's Food Bank for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 14, 2018 by Parker Thomlinson.