Central Okanagan Food Bank is a two-star charity. It has a low results reporting grade, and is not financially transparent. Its overhead costs are not within Ci's reasonable range. Central Okanagan Food Bank's programs have average demonstrated impact.

In 2015 the Westside Community Food Bank and Kelowna Community Food Bank joined together to form Central Okanagan Food Bank (COFB). Central Okanagan Food Bank is a charity located in British Columbia that wants to create a healthy and hunger free community by providing nutritious food to those in need. It reported that one in five children in the Central Okanagan district live in poverty and don’t get enough food. The food bank has two locations: a Kelowna branch and a West Kelowna branch. COFB offers a variety of nutrition programs including the tiny bundles program, kids snack pack program, vitality program, and special needs program. The charity does not provide a spending breakdown of its programs.

The tiny bundles program provides weekly hampers containing milk, eggs, fresh fruit, vegetables and baby products to pregnant mothers and families with children younger than one. The kids snack pack program provides children from ages one to 12 with a one-week supply of snack packs to bring to school. The packs include granola bars, yogurt, fruit, cheese, and juice boxes. The special needs program gives support to people with special dietary restrictions, and the vitality program gives food to families with children under the age of 5 and to people over the age of 55. Outside of these programs, clients can access the food bank once per month. The charity reports that over 18,360 children access its services annually.

In F2021, Central Okanagan Food Bank received $3.4m in Canadian donations and special events revenue. It also received food donations of $7.4m during the year, which represents a 107% increase from F2020. Administrative costs are 2% of total revenue excluding investment income. Fundraising costs are 1% of Canadian donations. This results in total overhead spending of 3%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 97 cents go to the cause. This is not within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

In F2021, COFB had $2.3m in net funding reserves ($2.5 million in liquid assets less $153k in interest-bearing debts). Its net funding reserves can cover annual program costs for around two years and three months.

COFB’s 2021 financial statements are unaudited. CRA best practices recommend that charities with over $250k in donations have audited financial statements available.

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

Updated on June 15th, 2022 by Arjun Kapur.