The Stop Community Food Centre
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.
B
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
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.
65%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 65 cents are available for programs.
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Programs
About The Stop Community Food Centre:
Founded in 1982, The Stop Community Food Centre works to increase access to healthy food for marginalized people in Toronto. The charity aims to do this while promoting dignity, self-determination, and a sense of community. The Stop’s main location runs the food bank, meal programs, and advocacy programs. The Stop’s Green Barn features a greenhouse, sheltered garden, compost demonstration centre, and Farmer’s Market.
The Stop’s community programs make up 51% of program expenditures. In F2018, the Drop-In program served 52,026 healthy breakfasts and lunches and featured social activities and housing, legal, and employment services. 1,551 visits to Community Kitchens taught healthy cooking skills in a social environment. Through education, the Community Action program advocates against food insecurity, marginalization, and poverty. In 2018, The Stop incorporated its anti-racist and anti-oppressive values across the charity including volunteer training programs. The charity's Community Advocates connect people with income, housing, and other resources. This year the program helped return $485,006 to 242 Tax Clinic participants. The Healthy Beginnings program supports pre- and post-natal nutrition through group workshops and health services. The Stop’s Green Barn produces food and sells affordable produce at its farmer’s market. In F2018 the Youth Engagement program allowed 184 youth to grow and cook healthy food and learn about sustainable food systems from a social justice perspective.
The Stop Community Food Centre’s food bank made up 45% of program expenditures in F2018. This year, The Stop distributed 233,450 pounds of food valued at $579,320 to individuals and families. The Stop also runs its 10 Metre Greens program, a social enterprise that helps unemployed people obtain resources and part time employment at the Green Barn.
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Results and Impact
The Stop Community Food Centre says that it uses food to build a sense of community and solidarity. In F2018, 82.13% of drop-in participants said they felt visible and included at The Stop. In addition, 100% of 10 Metre Greens participants said they felt better positioned to pursue education or jobs in the field.
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Finances
The Stop Community Food Centre is a medium-sized charity with $2.8m in donations and special event fundraising in F2018. In addition, the charity received $579k worth of donated food. Administrative costs are 10% of revenue (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 25% of donations and special event fundraising. For every dollar donated, 65 cents go to the charity’s programs, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The Stop has $497k in funding reserves, which can cover program costs for 3 months.
This report is an update was sent to The Stop for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated May 27, 2019 by Caroline McKenna.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending August
|
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 10.2% | 9.8% | 10.1% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 24.8% | 22.5% | 21.3% |
| Total overhead spending | 35.0% | 32.3% | 31.4% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 22.4% | 25.9% | 21.0% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 1,777,962 | 1,856,826 | 1,853,690 |
| Goods in kind | 579,320 | 462,388 | 484,205 |
| Government funding | 391,612 | 374,468 | 344,123 |
| Business activities (net) | 99,321 | 67,408 | 61,127 |
| Special events | 1,033,808 | 1,063,626 | 850,906 |
| Investment income | 4,151 | 2,981 | 28,394 |
| Total revenues | 3,886,174 | 3,827,697 | 3,622,445 |
| Program costs | 2,217,399 | 2,311,810 | 2,457,873 |
| Grants | 579,320 | 462,388 | 484,205 |
| Administrative costs | 395,238 | 373,605 | 361,497 |
| Fundraising costs | 696,564 | 656,976 | 575,953 |
| Total spending | 3,888,521 | 3,804,779 | 3,879,528 |
| Cash flow from operations | (2,347) | 22,918 | (257,083) |
| Capital spending | 7,212 | 0 | 0 |
| Funding reserves | 497,249 | 597,871 | 514,965 |
Note: Social enterprise revenues are reported net of expenses in business activities. Social enterprise expenses are reported net of revenues in business activities, deceasing total revenues and expenses by $153k in F2018, $146k in F2017, and $145 in F2016. Ci reported food donations in grants and excluded these amounts when calculating program cost coverage. Ci reported food donations in grants and excluded these amounts when calculating program cost coverage.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
3 |
$40k - $80k |
7 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2018
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
The charity has provided these comments for a previous version. Updated comments may be provided shortly.
The Stop places great value on being accountable to all of its stakeholders, and believes Canadians should be able to access meaningful information that will help them make informed decisions about their charitable giving. While we support Charity Intelligence’s efforts to increase transparency and accountability in the charitable sector, we believe CI’s methodology is overly simplistic, and fails to reflect the complexity and value of the programs we provide. For this reason, we have chosen to pursue accreditation through Imagine Canada’s Standards Program.
We are always happy to respond to any queries about our organization and our programs. Our audited financial statements can be found on our website at www.thestop.org/resources.
Comments on Charity Intelligence’s methodology
Cash vs. accrual basis:
Charity Intelligence uses the cash basis of accounting to arrive at the numbers in its Summarized Financial Statements section, which involves removing some of our non-cash transactions. The cash basis of accounting is not an accepted method for preparing financial statements. The Stop uses the accrual basis of accounting, as required by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and International Financial Accounting Standards. We have calculated the following surpluses using the legally required and accepted accounting principles:
2011: $75,861
2010: $48,472
2009: $38,427
Funding reserves:
To calculate the funding reserve, Charity Intelligence totals the amount of cash, bank accounts and term deposits an organization has on hand at the end of the year. The Stop uses the working capital calculation to assess its reserves. In 2010, that number was $337,420. This metric starts with cash, bank accounts and term deposits, but reduces that number by the outstanding amounts owing to suppliers and employees, and the amount that is restricted by funders for specific purposes. We believe that working capital more accurately demonstrates how much money we would have left after we fulfilled our required financial obligations.
Charity Contact
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