Second Harvest
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.
A+
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.
87%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 87 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Second Harvest:
Second Harvest is a 5-star charity with a High impact rating. It is one of Canada’s largest food rescue charities and is financially transparent with a high results reporting grade.
Founded in 1985, Second Harvest rescues fresh food and delivers it to people in Canada. According to Second Harvest, 5.6 million Canadians are food insecure. The charity also reports that 11.2 million metric tons of unsold excess food goes to landfills across the food industry in Canada each year. Second Harvest currently recovers food from 4,500 food donors and distributes it to 3,000 non-profit and charitable organizations that feed people across Canada.
In F2021, through its Food Rescue and Delivery program, Second Harvest rescued and redistributed 41 million pounds of food. This is a 48% increase from the 22.3 million pounds of food distributed in F2020. The food was 36% produce, 22% meat & alternatives, 8% dairy & dairy alternatives, 9% baked goods and snacks, 8% bread and grains, 7% water and beverages, 5% prepared foods, and 4% condiments. 83% of food donations were perishable.
Feeding Our Future is an annual 8-week summer program where Second Harvest serves free meal kits to kids attending summer camps. In F2021, the charity provided 12,995 kits and healthy lunches for 2,500 kids.
Harvest Kitchens is a training program for adults and youth who want to work in the food preparation industry. Program participants work under the supervision of food service professionals. The food they prepare is then delivered to Second Harvest’s food agency partners.
After piloting in four Ontario communities in F2019, Second Harvest launched its Food Rescue app, an online food donation platform that links surplus food with those who need it. In F2021, 5,000 new users joined the platform. The Second Harvest Food Rescue app helps facilitate access to types of food that are uncommon in the emergency space. Second Harvest also provides emergency funding through its Emergency Food Security Fund which provided funding for 1,385 organizations in F2021.
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Results and Impact
Second Harvest reports that it averted 162m pounds of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in F2021. Also, Second Harvest reports that 22.5 billion liters of water were not wasted because of its work. In F2021, Second Harvest rescued and redistributed 41m pounds of food.
Charity Intelligence gave Second Harvest an impact rating of High for proven impact per dollar.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Second Harvest’s results and impact.
Impact Rating: High

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Finances
In F2021, Second Harvest received donations and special events revenue of $17.2m and donated food worth $98.2m. Second Harvest received government funding of $20.5m for the Surplus Food Rescue Program and the Emergency Food Security Program.
Administrative costs are 1% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 12% of donations and special events revenue. This results in overhead costs of 13%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 87 cents go towards the charity’s programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Second Harvest has $18.0m in funding reserves and excluding the cost of donated food and donated volunteer services, the reserves can cover just over 6 months of program costs.
This charity report is an update that was sent to Second Harvest for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 22, 2022, by Emma Saganowich.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending August
|
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 1.2% | 1.9% | 1.6% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 12.2% | 8.4% | 10.9% |
Total overhead spending | 13.5% | 10.2% | 12.5% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 63.2% | 105.6% | 115.5% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 15,992 | 20,867 | 15,285 |
Goods in kind | 98,186 | 64,539 | 49,179 |
Government funding | 20,544 | 10,369 | 0 |
Business activities (net) | 35 | 340 | 19 |
Special events | 1,242 | 710 | 1,518 |
Investment income | 230 | 328 | 129 |
Total revenues | 136,230 | 97,152 | 66,129 |
Program costs | 28,494 | 15,491 | 5,085 |
Grants | 0 | 7,962 | 0 |
Donated goods exp | 98,186 | 64,539 | 49,179 |
Administrative costs | 1,679 | 1,816 | 1,066 |
Fundraising costs | 2,108 | 1,803 | 1,823 |
Total spending | 130,467 | 91,611 | 57,154 |
Cash flow from operations | 5,763 | 5,541 | 8,976 |
Capital spending | 4,600 | 1,214 | 7,696 |
Funding reserves | 18,011 | 24,763 | 5,876 |
Note: Ci adjusted for non-government deferred contributions, increasing total revenues by ($664k) in F2021, $1.7m in F2020, and $8.3m in F2019.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
1 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2021
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Feeding Our Future (FOF)
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment & Second Harvest Partnership: Bringing Toronto Back to Its Feet
Harvest Kitchens
Food Rescue.ca Emergency Funding
Sprott Grocery Gift Cards
North West Company
Surplus Food Rescue Program
This comment is from a previous version of the charity's report and it may be updated by the charity.
Comments provided by Second Harvest October 16, 2020
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-408-2594