Saskatoon Food bank is a 5-star charity with Good impact. It is financially transparent and has average results reporting.  

Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre (SFBLC) was founded in 1984 with a mission to ensure a food secure community. In 2019, 13.5% of Saskatchewan households were food insecure. With financial supports like CERB, in 2020 this dropped down to 7.5% of households; however, with these supports largely ended, the charity reports that many more residents are again struggling. The charity aims to address the underlying issues that contribute to hunger and poverty. Saskatoon Food Bank does this by providing emergency nutrition, learning, tax, and self-help services. The charity does not provide a full breakdown of its spending on its programs.

SFBLC’s emergency nutrition program provides two to three days of food for families and individuals. In F2021, the food bank provided 49,482 Emergency Food Hampers for people in the Saskatoon area. The charity’s Milk for Children program provided 50,377 litres of fresh milk for children under 17 and pregnant and nursing women.

Saskatoon Food Bank’s tax program offers free tax services to low-income individuals and families. The charity’s tax program served 3,243 people with low income. In F2021, this program added $8.7m to the local economy through tax refunds, GST credits, and child benefits. The average refund per person in F2021 was $2,692.

SFBLC ran courses in office work, first aid, life skills and resume building. In F2021, the programs had 28 graduates. The charity also operates a garden patch that produced 11,456lb of food and 643 hours of gardening education in F2021.

Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre received $6.0m in donations and special events fundraising revenue in F2021 along with $6.2m in donated food. 

Administrative costs are 2% of revenues and fundraising costs are 1% of donations. SFBLC spends 3% on overhead. This means that for every dollar donated, 97% goes towards the charity’s program. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending; however, it is not uncommon for food banks to have very low overhead cost ratios. SFBLC has $6.0m in funding reserves and the reserves can cover around 1.9 years of program costs. 

SFBLC’s audited financial statements do not provide a full breakdown of fundraising or administrative costs. This information comes from SFBLC’s T3010 filing with the CRA Charities Directorate.

This charity report is an update that was sent for review to Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Center. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 6, 2022 by Emma Saganowich.