Food Banks Canada
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.
Average
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.
My anchor
OVERVIEW
About Food Banks Canada:
Food Banks Canada is a 4-star rated charity. The charity is financially transparent and has Average demonstrated impact. It has an above average results reporting grade and its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. Food Banks Canada has $36.2m in reserve funds, which can cover program costs for nine months.
Founded in 1989, Food Banks Canada (FBC) is a national organization working to reduce food insecurity countrywide. Every year, Food Banks Canada releases its HungerCount report, which provides statistics on hunger and the use of food banks in Canada. In F2022, the report highlights that a quarter of food banks experienced a 50% increase in demand. It adds that a third of food bank clients were children, despite children only representing 19% of the population. The report states that more than half of the individuals using food banks received other social aid.
The charity supports ten Provincial Associations and 4,751 organizations, including affiliate food banks and food agencies. These organizations work directly with their communities to relieve hunger. Food Banks Canada provides food sharing services, distributes funds to the food bank network and does advocacy work to reduce food insecurity in Canada.
Funds distribution – 52% of program spending ($38.7 million)
Food Banks Canada distributes funds to its network of food banks to support their work. In F2022, the charity granted $38.7 million to its network. Banques Alimentaires Québec/Food Banks Québec received a grant of $10.0 million. The next two biggest grants were to Harvest Manitoba Inc. ($1.3 million) and to Metro Food Bank Society – Nova Scotia ($969k). Food Banks Canada reports that it has distributed over $180 million to its network in the past five years.
Food acquisition and sharing – 44% of program spending ($33.2 million)
In F2022, 2,381 food banks in Food Banks Canada’s network reported 1,462,795 client visits. This is a 15% increase from F2021. 485,041 of these visits were children. The charity provided 31.3 million lb of food to food banks across Canada. Food Banks Canada states that it distributed over four million meals and snacks. It also handed out 149,760 N95 masks through the Red Cross during covid-19. Currently, over 40% of food distributed by food banks is fresh. Food Banks Canada strives to make this 60% by 2025.
The last 4% of program spending in F2022 ($2.3m) was on public relations, communications, research and advocacy. Food Banks Canada highlights that its research was covered by 146 news stories.
My anchor
Results and Impact
Food Banks Canada reports that its food bank network received 31,294,479 lb of food through its programs. It also reports that there were 1,462,795 visits to food banks that it supported in F2022. This averages to clients receiving 21 lb of food provided by Food Banks Canada per visit.
While Charity Intelligence highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Food Banks Canada's results and impacts.
Charity Intelligence has rated Food Banks Canada as having Average impact based on demonstrated impact per dollar.
Impact Rating: Average
My anchor
Finances
Food Banks Canada is one of Canada’s Major 100 charities, receiving monetary donations of $31.2m in F2022. It also received government funding of $35.8m. It received donations of food products estimated at $25.0m. Administrative costs are 1% of total revenues and fundraising costs are 12% of monetary donations. This means that for every dollar donated, 87 cents are available for programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range of overhead spending.
In F2021, monetary donations to Food Banks Canada spiked to $82.4m. F2021 donations from corporations, foundations and individuals, as well as government funding, all increased considerably. To reflect the increase in donations in F2021, the charity granted an unprecedented $98.7m. In F2021, Food Banks Canada granted $23.0m to Ontario Association of Food Banks and $17.6m to Banques Alimentaires Québec.
Food Banks Canada has total funding reserves of $36.2m. Existing funding reserves can cover nine months of annual program spending.
Ci has sent this profile update to Food Banks Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 9, 2023 by Victoria Allder.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 1.1% | 0.7% | 2.2% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 12.2% | 2.7% | 6.1% |
Total overhead spending | 13.4% | 3.4% | 8.3% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 73.0% | 25.3% | 50.8% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 31,182 | 82,404 | 22,746 |
Goods in kind | 25,001 | 29,971 | 25,574 |
Government funding | 35,843 | 78,137 | 5,029 |
Fees for service | 0 | 0 | 31 |
Investment income | 162 | 229 | 0 |
Other income | 6 | 50 | 244 |
Total revenues | 92,193 | 190,791 | 53,624 |
Program costs | 10,867 | 45,690 | 4,676 |
Grants | 38,730 | 98,711 | 21,487 |
Donated goods exp | 25,001 | 29,971 | 25,574 |
Administrative costs | 1,036 | 1,378 | 1,163 |
Fundraising costs | 3,812 | 2,227 | 1,393 |
Total spending | 79,447 | 177,977 | 54,292 |
Cash flow from operations | 12,747 | 12,814 | (668) |
Capital spending | 25 | 44 | 37 |
Funding reserves | 36,195 | 36,521 | 13,286 |
Note: Ci has backed amortization of capital assets out of program costs, reducing program costs by $73k in F2022, $313k in F2021 and $110k in F2020.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
4 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022
My anchor
Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
We appreciate the opportunity to provide additional comments to supplement Charity Intelligence’s review.
The above rating captures information activity ended March 31, 2022, our fiscal year F22.
To review our most recent financial statements and annual report please visit https://foodbankscanada.ca/about-us/annual-reports/ and https://foodbankscanada.ca/impact/ to read more about Food Banks Canada’s impact.
Food Banks Canada vision is a Canada where no one goes hungry, and we do this through our mission to both relieve hunger today and prevent hunger tomorrow.
Looking back on our work from F22.
RELIEVING HUNGER TODAY
Funding:
In F22, Food Banks Canada distributed over $38.7 million in funding to support the food banking network.
Providing food to those in need can be difficult at the best of times. With COVID-19, that task got a whole lot harder.
To help the network of food banks and provincial associations provide food and other essentials to individuals struggling amid the pandemic, Food Banks Canada continued offering support through the Emergency Food Security Fund, made possible through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
From disruptions in the supply chain and donations to a drop in volunteers to entirely new safety protocols, food banks have had to adapt to a host of unprecedented challenges. With government funding Food Banks Canada developed a granting program that enabled the national food bank network to survive during a period of incredible challenges so they could continue providing food to hundreds of thousands of people in Canada.
In addition to this, Food Banks Canada, through the support of donors, also provided direct funding to support the network along with dedicated grants to address capacity issues through the network.
Food:
Through F22 we safely shared perishable food like eggs, milk, produce and meat; moved large-scale food donations to bridge supply gaps; put grants in the hands of food bankers helping people on the ground; and stocked food bank shelves that were running low.
As the nation’s leading organization in relieving hunger, we built partnerships with food producers, farmers and other organizations—including community-led initiatives in the North—to ensure every person in Canada who is hungry, no matter where they live, can have access to nourishing food during this crisis and beyond.
In F22, through Food Banks Canada programs, over 31M lbs. of food reached the food bank network including 4.5 million lbs. in purchased food, 7.8 million lbs. through our National Food Sharing System (NFSS) and 19.2 million lbs. through the Retail Food Program, representing an estimated value of over $100M on food in support to the network.
Programs: A few examples of Food Banks Canada programing in F22
After The Bell – https://foodbankscanada.ca/after-the-bell/
Child hunger is a heartbreaking fact of food insecurity in Canada, and Food Banks Canada is urgently bringing attention and action to the problem. In Canada, 1 in 6 children live in food-insecure households.
According to our 2021 HungerCount report, children comprise 33 per cent of food bank users in Canada, even though they only represent 19 per cent of the population.
To respond to child hunger during summer 2021, when school meal and snack programs were unavailable, Food Banks Canada’s After the Bell program delivered 150,000 healthy food packs for distribution by food banks in high-need communities.
After the Bell has become a cornerstone campaign for Food Banks Canada and its network. As the number of children and families in need continues to increase at an alarming rate, so does the need for Food Banks Canada to step in, as a national leader, to showcase the need and share hope for positive change.
In addition to increasing the number of healthy food packs provided by 15 per cent, we also grew the number of communities covered by the program from 162 to 180 to help address child hunger in more remote and underserved areas.
Families from hard-to-reach towns like Bella Coola on B.C.’s Central Coast and fly-in communities like Brochet, Manitoba, all benefited from nutritious food packs that are reviewed by a dietician.
In Alberta, After the Bell packs even helped Nashid* and his family feel more comfortable accessing the Interfaith Food Bank of Lethbridge. “Because language is often a barrier for some of the new Canadians that visit our food bank, children tend to be brought along by parents as ‘interpreters.’ When Nashid was asked to tell his mother to come back each week over the summer to pick up the After the Bell packs, his eyes brightened, and he told his brother first! The two boys became a bit of a fixture at the food bank this summer as they tagged along with their mother to help with carrying groceries, and we saw them become more comfortable with the food bank experience over the summer months. Where they appeared to be shy on their first visits, we could tell they looked forward to coming each week for their After the Bell packs—often even beating Mom to the door! The After the Bell packs built a bridge for this immigrant family that was spearheaded by the children.” Danielle McIntyre EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge
*name changed to protect privacy
Northern Food Insecurity:
Poverty, along with a lack of access to logistics, proper infrastructure and transportation, has resulted in many northern and remote communities experiencing high levels of food insecurity. Through our ongoing policy recommendations, Food Banks Canada remains focused on addressing the disproportionate food security challenges being faced by people in the North. To address these challenges, Food Banks Canada believes in building deep, sustainable and authentic connections with northern communities. In addition to continuing to work on long-term policy solutions, in July 2021 we welcomed our first Northern Program Officer, Jason Stevens, who developed dozens of new relationships with food bankers operating in northern Canada.
Food Banks Canada also consulted with provincial associations to find collaborative ways to increase supports beyond the three northern territories and encompass the northern regions of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Food Banks Canada disbursed $1.2 million in grants—made possible through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Emergency Food Security Fund—to remote and underserved communities in Canada’s North. Through Food Banks Canada’s own Northern Capacity Fund, we also granted $250,000 to boost sustainable capacity investments in northern communities.
With this grant, a total of 18 Northern food banks and other food security organizations were helped to accept and distribute more food for those experiencing hunger; improve operational efficiency to increase the amount of food their organization can safely acquire and distribute; improve safe food-handling practices; or build sustainable initiatives that will provide northern communities with ongoing support for those in need.
The year culminated with Food Banks Canada working with members from the network of food banks and provincial associations to deliver 4,000 pounds of food donated by Harvest Manitoba to two northern, rural and remote First Nation communities. Along with volunteers from the Thunder Bay Regional Food Distribution Association and Harvest Manitoba, Jason Stevens drove more than 3,000 kilometres on ice roads to deliver food and other supplies in Shamattawa, Manitoba, and Fort Severn, Ontario.
Food Waste:
Through Food Banks Canada Food Recovery Programs, in F22 27M lbs of food was recovered and diverted to communities in need throughout Canada
In addition, after exports of P.E.I. potatoes to the U.S. were suspended in November 2021, Food Banks Canada worked with government officials and the P.E.I. Potato Board to keep loads of fresh, wholesome produce from going to waste. Together, we committed to distributing dozens of truckloads of perfectly palatable tubers—for a total of up to 3.5 million pounds—to food banks across the country. As reported in a CBC story featuring Food Banks Canada CEO Kirsten Beardsley, the network of food banks and provincial associations was “overjoyed” to receive the recovered spuds.
“The large donation of 120,000 pounds of potatoes from Food Banks Canada has been a tremendous help. Not only are they distributed in our food hampers throughout Windsor-Essex County, but they are also used to make healthy, nutritional soup for our soup program. We are extremely thankful for donations like this; potatoes are high in protein and fibre, keep individuals full for extended amounts of time, and taste great in just about anything! Thank you, Food Banks Canada, for helping feed the need in our community. We appreciate all you do.” Mackenzie Adams UHC – HUB OF OPPORTUNITIES
“The potatoes are in amazing shape. With food prices increasing so much, potatoes are a great option.” Alex Counsell NANAIMO LOAVES & FISHES
The Ikurraq Food Bank in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, even secured additional funding for cheese and gravy and treated hundreds of community members to crowd-pleasing poutine—not to mention potatoes served with locally harvested caribou and nutritious bowls of stew. “The potatoes added a great source for stews, which with additional resources such as caribou are a staple food in our community.” David Fredlund IKURRAQ FOOD BANK SOCIETY
Free Tax Clinics:
There is no shortage of food in Canada; being hungry in this country is about poverty. With the rise in the cost of housing and food, and the relatively stagnant levels of wages and government support for those who need it, people are struggling to make ends meet. For individuals who live below the poverty threshold, every dollar truly counts. While federal and provincial supports are available in the form of GST/HST credits, child benefits and more, those who don’t file tax returns miss out. So, to help more people living with low incomes overcome the barriers to accessing benefits they deserve, Food Banks Canada expanded its National Tax Clinic program to help more individuals living with low incomes file their tax returns.
In collaboration with the network of food banks and provincial associations, and with increased funding and volunteer support from our corporate sponsor, KPMG in Canada, Food Banks Canada increased the number of free tax return clinics included in its National Tax Clinic program and upgraded software to help more people access the benefits they deserve. In 2021, the Mississauga Food Bank joined the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre in filing 2020 taxes on behalf of clients in need, operating virtually as a safety precaution due to COVID-19. According to Heather McLean of The Mississauga Food Bank, which together with the Saskatoon Food Bank returned more than $9.3 million to the pockets of low-income individuals in 2021, virtual tax clinics help alleviate client fears and spread education about the existing social benefits system.
“Numerous clients who I spoke to had not filed taxes for many years out of fear,” McLean said of her experience during the 2020–2021 tax season. “Many were in receipt of disability benefits and were struggling to make ends meet, or they received the CERB and were afraid they would owe money on their taxes. The virtual tax clinic allowed them to stay safe in their homes while still ensuring their returns were filed.” As tax clinic clients interact with volunteers in filing taxes, they also develop a better understanding of how to navigate the tax system going forward. Ultimately, helping individuals access the tax credits, child benefits and other financial supports they are entitled to aligns with Food Banks Canada’s long-term goal of reducing poverty, inequality and the need for food bank services.
N95 Masks:
In addition to the food, funding and programming provided to the network, in F22 through partnership with the Red Cross, we also distributed a total of 149,760 N95 masks to the network to help food bankers stay safe as they work to relieve hunger.
PREVENTING HUNGER TOMORROW
Food Banks Canada understands that we need national data to find both short- and long-term solutions to food insecurity, which is why we are a key contributor to the understanding of hunger in Canada on the ground. Our signature HungerCount 2021 report drove a significant amount of awareness to help Canadians understand how the pandemic impacted people living with food insecurity.
Food Banks Canada’s research made headlines, reaching of 51.2 million across the country, creating a unified national platform to highlight food insecurity issues in newscasts from coast to coast to coast. We believe that people care about their neighbours who are hungry and want to engage with the issue through data and analysis.
In Canada, we know that hunger stems from more than a lack of food. Food bank services exist to assist people experiencing food insecurity with meeting their immediate needs, and Food Banks Canada is equally focused on advocating for the structural solutions that will prevent hunger from continuing to grow in Canada.
That’s why, as the national expert on food insecurity, we released an Election Toolkit ahead of the 2021 Canadian federal election to help the network of food banks and provincial associations influence political discourse. We also worked continuously with the government to guide action on long-term policy solutions for tomorrow—including a Disability Hiring Strategy that made it onto multiple party platforms—and expanded our tax clinic program to reduce poverty in the future.
Using the strength of our national research program and policy experts in food insecurity, Food Banks Canada consistently presents policy alternatives that can make a demonstrable difference. We are a leading and credible advocate for government action on food insecurity.
In F22 we provided 5 key policy recommendations
Read the full policy recommendations at F22 Policy Recommendations
Please also see our most up to date policy recommendations at https://foodbankscanada.ca/hungercount/policy-recommendations/
Note: Visits referenced in Charity Intelligences review above, provides the results of the snapshot of Food Bank users in one month, March 2021, as reported in our annual HungerCount Report (HungerCount2022). This number does not represent the total number of visits within the food bank network over the entire year, nor unique individuals utilizing the services of the network.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 905 602 5234