Regina & District Food Bank is a 5-star, financially transparent charity with Good demonstrated impact. It has a strong results reporting grade and its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has $4.0m in reserve funds, which can cover a year and five months of annual program costs.

Founded in 1983, Regina & District Food Bank (RFB) serves hungry people in Regina. It provides services directly and through partnerships to help with food supplies, skills development and connections to community supports. RFB strives to inspire individuals and the community to work together to address hunger and sustain independence. The charity reports that in Saskatchewan, more than one in ten households and 19% of children experience food insecurity. The charity operates two programs: Food Hampers and Non-Food Reclamation. In F2023, it reports serving 92,619 individuals, a 31% increase compared with F2022.

Food Hampers – 96% of program spending

Regina & District Food Bank reports that food insecurity in Regina has worsened due to a growing unemployment rate, reaching 7.3% in February 2021. The charity’s Food Hampers program provides food hampers to clients in need every two weeks. These contain seven to ten days worth of food and include canned goods, fresh fruit and vegetables and shelf-stable staples like dry pasta. Hampers are delivered both directly by the Regina Food Bank and through its network of over 120 community partners. In F2023, the charity distributed 75,246 hampers to 33,224 households. Regina Food Bank reports 171,451 food bank visits in F2023, a 42% increase since F2022. Regina Food Bank made 2,407 referrals in F2023 and was a referral for 42 programs and services in the community.

Non-Food Reclamation – 4% of program spending

The Non-Food Reclamation program partners with retail organisations to distribute non-food goods such as hygiene, cleaning and baby products. RFB has 114 local partners, one of which was new in F2023 and 12 of which focus on helping the homeless. RFB distributed 91 pounds of products in F2023.

In F2024, Regina & District Food Bank hopes to open a new centre in downtown Regina that resembles a grocery store, with the goal to reduce stigma.

Regina & District Food Bank is financially transparent. Its audited financial statements are publicly available on its website.

Regina & District Food Bank had monetary donations of $3.5m in F2023 and food donations of $9.6m. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 4% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 8%, which means for every dollar donated, 92 cents are available for programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Regina Food Bank has $4.0m in funding reserves. The charity could cover 143% or a year and five months of annual program costs (excluding the cost of donated food) with current reserves.

At the time of this profile update, the charity’s F2023 T3010 filing with the CRA is not publicly available. Hence, the most recent employee compensation information is from F2022.

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

Updated on July 24, 2023 by Victoria Allder.