Ottawa Food Bank
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.
Good
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.
78%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 78 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Ottawa Food Bank:
Ottawa Food Bank is a five star, financially transparent charity with a Good impact rating. It has an A- results reporting grade, which is above average, and its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity’s reserve funds could cover its annual program costs for approximately one year and three months.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 100 Rated Charity.
Founded in 1984, Ottawa Food Bank (OFB) collects and distributes food to 67 organizations in its agency network that operate 92 food programs. It also runs school meal programs for Ottawa’s youth and advocates for government intervention targeting the city’s growing level of food insecurity. According to the charity, 25% of Ottawa households face food insecurity in 2024, compared to 14% in 2022.
The charity runs two main programs: Food Collection & Distribution and Community Programs. It distributed $8.3m worth of food and spent $15.8m cash on its programs in the fiscal year ending September 2025 (F2025).
Food Collection & Distribution was 89% of the charity’s program spending. During F2025, Ottawa Food Bank’s agency network distributed 7,932,502 lb of food, 47% of which was fresh. According to the charity, its agency network received 588,866 visits during F2025. Through its partnership with Feed the City, it made 2,935 deliveries to individuals who were unable to access food banks in person.
Community Programs accounted for 11% of the charity’s program spending. In F2025, the KickStart After 4 program distributed 119,513 lb of food through after-school programs in partnership with 18 agencies. Beyond food support, the charity also distributed 84,041 lb of diapers, 33,995 lb of pet food, and 57,248 lb of household and hygiene products. Its Community Harvest Farm produced 174,515 lb of fresh food.
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Results and Impact
Since Ottawa Food Bank distributed 7,932,502 lb of food across 588,866 client visits, clients received an average of 13.5 lb of food each visit in F2025. Clients can visit the food bank once per month.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Ottawa Food Bank’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has scored Ottawa Food Bank as having Good impact based on its demonstrated social impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Good
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Finances
Ottawa Food Bank's audited financial statements follow activity-based costing, a financial reporting best practice. This means it clearly discloses program, administrative, and fundraising expenses in its financial statements.
In F2025, OFB received $8.3m worth of donated food (25% of total revenue) and $22.6m in cash donations and special events revenue (69% of total revenue). It also received $462k worth of government funding and $1.6m in investment income during F2025.
Administrative costs were $1.6m (5% of revenue less investment income), and fundraising costs were $3.9m (17% of donations). OFB’s total overhead spending was 22%, meaning that for every dollar received, 78 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
In F2025, OFB spent $15.8m cash on its programs and distributed $8.3m worth of donated food, running a surplus of $3.5m (10% of total revenue).
At the end of F2025, OFB had $20.8m in funding reserves (cash and investments), which could cover annual program costs for over one year and three months.
Profile updated by Ava Anderson on June 16, 2026. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Learn more: Ottawa Food Bank's impact page
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending September
|
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.0% | 4.9% | 5.3% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 17.2% | 18.1% | 14.3% |
| Total overhead spending | 22.2% | 23.0% | 19.6% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 131.3% | 123.0% | 118.6% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 20,245 | 17,604 | 16,652 |
| Goods in kind | 8,251 | 11,075 | 8,445 |
| Government funding | 462 | 493 | 434 |
| Special events | 2,379 | 1,744 | 1,535 |
| Investment income | 1,632 | 2,727 | (380) |
| Total revenues | 32,968 | 33,643 | 26,685 |
| Program costs | 8,642 | 15,253 | 13,775 |
| Grants | 7,166 | 0 | 1,211 |
| Donated goods exp | 8,251 | 11,075 | 8,445 |
| Administrative costs | 1,554 | 1,510 | 1,438 |
| Fundraising costs | 3,895 | 3,506 | 2,600 |
| Total spending | 29,508 | 31,344 | 27,469 |
| Cash flow from operations | 3,460 | 2,299 | (783) |
| Capital spending | 408 | 153 | 5,888 |
| Funding reserves | 20,763 | 18,756 | 17,777 |
Note: 1. DEFERRED DONATIONS: Since OFB follows deferred accounting, Ci adjusted revenue for changes in deferred donations to show financial information consistently. This affected revenue by ($32k), $22k, and $11k in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively. 2. DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Ci adjusted deferred contributions restricted for capital expenditures. This affected revenue by ($35k), $2k, and $332k in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively. 3. GRANTS RECEIVABLE: Ci adjusted donations for changes in grants receivable which affected revenue by $nil, $99k, and $141k in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively. 5. GOVERNMENT FUNDING RECEIVABLES: Ci adjusted for changes in government funding receivables which affected revenue by ($13k), $61k, and $10k in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively. 6. UNREALIZED INVESTMENT GAINS: Ci included unrealized investment gains (losses) in revenue, affecting it by $1.0m, $2.0m, and ($798k) in F2025, F2024, and F2023, respectively.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
6 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2025
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
News articles: Matthew Lapierre, "Inflation is driving Ottawa food bank use to record highs, no end in sight", Ottawa Citizen, September 20, 2022
Tel: 613-745-7001