Daily Bread Food Bank is a 5-star rated charity. It has an above average results reporting grade and its overhead costs are within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The charity has $33.6m in reserve funds that can cover its program costs for a year and eight months. Daily Bread Food Bank is financially transparent.

Founded in 1983, Daily Bread Food Bank (Daily Bread) fights hunger and poverty in the Toronto Area. It does this by providing access to food through food banks and advocating for social change in the community. According to the charity’s 2022 Who’s Hungry report, 1.68 million food bank visits were recording in Toronto during the reporting period. This is a 16% increase from the 1.45 million recorded prior. 96% of food bank clients live below the poverty line of $24,720 annually. Daily Bread Food Bank reports that according to Statistics Canada, one in five Canadians state they will need food bank support if prices continue to rise. The charity has two main programs: Food Preparation and Distribution, and Research and Advocacy.

Food Preparation and Distribution – 93% of program spending

Daily Bread Food Bank distributes affordable meals for those living in poverty. It does this through 128 member agencies and 193 food programs. In F2022, it distributed 18,663,088 lb of food, increasing 11% from 16,851,374 lb in F2021. This consisted of vegetables (6,859,450 lb), grains (2,915,750 lb), dairy products (2,854,571 lb), meats and alternatives and fruit. The amount of food distributed has steadily increased since 2019. The charity reports that it re-distributed 2.9 million lb of fresh produce from 16 farmer partners. It also states that it prepared 157,808 meals in its kitchen. In F2022, the charity served 150,206 unique clients and had 1,574,958 client visits. Over 1,200 volunteers provided 51,742 hours of work. The charity opened new food centres in Agincourt and South Etobicoke. Daily Bread Food Bank aims to provide all clients with three days worth of food per weekly visit by 2024.

Research and Advocacy – 7% of program spending

Daily Bread Food Bank advocates for policy change to address poverty and hunger in Toronto. In F2022, it partnered with the University of Calgary to expose the links between government policies and the number of food bank visits. It also partnered with the University of Toronto to understand how program design and location impact food bank access. Daily Bread Food Bank published its F2022 Who’s Hungry report. This report highlights key statistics on food bank use and hunger in Toronto. It assembles data from 1,165 surveys, three follow-up phone calls and Link2Feed data. The charity also collected 27,407 signatures for a petition asking the Ontario government to commit to a 50% reduction in poverty by 2030. It also helped send 718 letters and held 25 meetings to advocate for policy changes. In F2022, Daily Bread Food Bank launched a new podcast called Ending Poverty in Canada by 2030. This podcast discusses the necessary measures to end poverty in the country by 2030.

Daily Bread Food Bank received $25.4m in monetary donations and $34.4m in food donations in F2022. Daily Bread’s administrative costs are 1% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 13% of cash donations. This results in overhead costs of 15%. This means that for every dollar donated, 85 cents are available for the charity’s programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. In F2022, Daily Bread Food Bank had $33.6m in funding reserves in its General Fund and Food Fund, which can cover program costs for 1.7 years. 

Daily Bread paid external fundraisers $204k in F2022 to raise $405k for a cost of $0.51 per dollar raised.  

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Daily Bread Food Bank for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.  

Updated on June 5, 2023 by Victoria Allder.