Food Banks of Quebec is a 5-star rated, financially transparent charity. It has a strong reporting grade and its overhead spending is outside of Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has $5.9m in reserve funds, which can cover three months of program costs.

Founded in 1988, Food Banks of Quebec distributes food and grants to its network of food banks across the province of Quebec. It is a member of Food Banks Canada. The charity aims to fight food insecurity and provide nutritious food to vulnerable populations in Quebec. Food Banks of Quebec’s network consists of 19 Moisson members, 13 Associated members and 1,200 affiliated organizations. The Moisson members are regional food banks that collect and redistribute food to organizations in their area. The Associated members serve remote regions that are not covered by Moisson members. The affiliated organizations receive food from Moisson or Associated members and offer it directly to clients.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

In Food Banks of Quebec’s 2022 Hunger Count, it reports that its network responded to 2.2 million monthly requests for food assistance, which is a 20% increase from 2021. It states that its network served 671,000 people each month, 34% of which were children. Food Banks of Quebec explains that food insecurity and demand for food banks has worsened in F2023 due to increased food prices.

The charity focuses on three main areas: Food Distribution to its network, Grants to its network and the Supermarket Food Collection program.

Food Distribution

In F2023, the charity reports distributing a total of 96.6 million lb of food to affiliated organizations. It distributed 42.3 million lb of food to Moisson members, a 31% increase from F2022. Food Banks of Quebec reports that the demand for food is rapidly outweighing the supply. To continue to provide enough food to its network, the charity has increased the amount of food it is purchasing itself. In F2023, it purchased 17.2 million lb of food to be redistributed.

Grants

Food Banks of Quebec grants money to member associations to support infrastructure development and increase their reach. In F2023, it granted to 32 members. In F2022, its biggest grants went to Moisson Montréal ($1.9m), Moisson Québec ($1.1m) and Moisson Rive-Sud ($894k). This data is not available for F2023 at the time of this profile update.

Supermarket Food Collection Program (Programme de récupération en supermarchés)

Food Banks of Quebec’s Supermarket Food Collection Program collects food from supermarkets and redistributes it to its network. The program reduces food waste and increases the amount and variety of food available across the food bank network. In F2023, the charity reports collecting 14.6 million pounds of food through the program, thanks to 581 participating stores. It adds that it collected 5% more food compared to F2021 and had an additional 105 stores join the program.

Food Banks of Quebec is financially transparent. Its audited financial statements are publicly available on its website.

Food Banks of Quebec received monetary donations and special events revenues of $7.0m in F2023. It also received government funding of $8.4m, representing 55% of monetary donations. The charity received food donations estimated at $57.2m, included below as goods in kind. Administrative costs are 1% of total revenues and fundraising costs are less than 1% of monetary donations. This means that for every dollar donated, 99 cents are available for programs. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range of overhead spending. Food Banks of Quebec’s affiliated organizations run fundraising campaigns and the charity receives part of these funds.

Food Banks Canada has total reserve funds of $5.9m. Existing reserve funds can cover three months of program costs (excluding goods in kind), showing a need for funding.

The charity's 2023 employee compensation information is not yet available as its 2023 T3010 filing with the CRA is not public at the time of this profile update.

Ci has sent this profile update to Food Banks of Quebec for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 27, 2023 by Victoria Allder.