Founded in 2002, Eden Food for Change (EFFC) hopes to increase access to good food in a dignified manner, to develop food skills to encourage healthy eating and to empower the community through education, outreach and advocacy. In 2014, EFFC moved away from the typical food bank model of food collection and distribution. Its programs now favor a relational long-term approach that provides food for hungry people and encourages the entire community to access nutritious food and food skills. EFFC primarily serves western Mississauga.

Eden Food for Change’s Food Bank program allows individuals to pick up 7 to 10 days of food each month. In F2018, 492,599 pounds of food were distributed through the Food Bank, of which about 50% was fresh produce. In F2018, the food bank also reports that 27,567 pounds of food were shared with other organizations, and 5,320 pounds was repurposed food waste for farm and compost use. The food bank was able to facilitate 17,235 individual visits, a 28% increase from F2017 and 5,608 family visits, a 15% increase from F2017.  

Eden Food for Change’s Fresh Produce Box program offers community members fruits and vegetables for pickup at discounted prices. In F2018, the program distributed 5,090 produce boxes to clients, which is down from 12,668 boxes distributed in F2017.   

Finally, Eden Food for Change’s Learning Kitchen program teaches cooking skills and nutritional education to its food bank participants. The Learning Kitchen also offers cooking classes to community members, that teach basic kitchen and food preparation skills. The food that is prepared through these classes is distributed through EFFC’s Food Bank program. In F2018, 861 individuals participated in classes in groups, which produced 37,938 portions of food for the Food Bank. The Learning Kitchen also provides lunches to children from low-income neighbourhoods and employs people seeking jobs in the food service industry.  

Eden Food for Change is a medium-sized charity, with monetary donations and special events revenue of $543k and food donations and other goods-in-kind of $1.3m in F2018. Its administrative costs are 2% of revenues and its fundraising costs are 18% of donations. These costs for 2018 are likely understated as Eden Food for Change does not fully disclose administrative and fundraising expenses on its financial statements. For every dollar donated to the charity, 80 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

The charity’s funding reserves of $153k result in a program cost coverage ratio, excluding the cost of donated food, of 25%. This means that existing funding reserves can cover 3 months of its annual programs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Eden Food for Change for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 22, 2019 by Parker Thomlinson.