Ottawa Food Bank is a 5-star charity. It has Good demonstrated impact. reasonable overhead spending and is financially transparent.  

Founded in 1984, Ottawa Food Bank collects, buys, grows, and distributes food to people facing food insecurity across the Ottawa region. Ottawa Food Bank is the major distributor for 112 partner agencies and emergency food programs. These include local food banks, food cupboards, meal programs, social service agencies, and after-school clubs. 

Ottawa Food Bank’s 2019 Hunger Report researches the root causes of hunger and poverty, including low income, homelessness, and the high cost of living. The report states that 37% of Ottawa Food Bank’s clients are children, including 5% babies under the age of two. Around 60% of clients rely on social assistance as their primary source of income and 33% live in social housing. 

Ottawa Food Bank’s main program is food distribution. It also runs various community projects, such as fresh produce farming and food recovery programs. In F2021, the charity reports that 85% of program spending went to programs but does not provide a further breakdown of individual projects. 

In F2021, Ottawa Food Bank distributed $8.7m in food, household supplies, and hygiene products, and spent a further $3.6m on buying food. Ottawa Food Bank CEO Rachel Wilson said that "before covid we were spending $2 million a year on food. This coming year we're going to spend $6 million."

In total, it distributed 7.1 million pounds of food during the year (5.4 million in F2020). In F2021, Ottawa Food Bank also gave out 134k pounds of household supplies (187k in F2020) and 143k pounds of diapers (110k in F2020). The charity states that fresh food accounts for 43% of its distributed food. The remainder of its food distributions includes 33% canned goods; 22% cereal, grains, snacks, and desserts; and 2% baby food. 

In response to the covid-19 pandemic, Ottawa Food Bank created an emergency food hamper program. In F2021, this program helped deliver 3k emergency hampers, adding up to 1.0m pounds of emergency food supplies. 

Ottawa Food Bank also runs other community programs. The charity’s KickStart After 4 Clubs program provides healthy snacks to school-aged children and its Baby Basics Program ensures parents and babies have access to baby food and other supplies, such as diapers and formula. In F2021, Ottawa Food Bank funded 11 KickStart After 4 Clubs and provided 251k pounds of baby food and supplies. The charity also runs a Community Harvest Farm, which harvested 168k pounds of fresh produce during the year. 

Ottawa Food Bank received $16.7m in cash donations and special events revenue, as well as $8.7m in donated food and hygiene products in F2021. It also received $428k in government funding during the year. In F2020, Ottawa Food Bank saw a generous community response during covid-19 which led to a $10.9m increase in donations. Donations levelled out in F2021 but still saw an $8.5m increase to pre-covid levels.This Administration costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 12% of cash donations and special events revenue. This results in total overhead spending of 16%. For every dollar donated, 84 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.  

Ottawa Food Bank has $19.9m in total funding reserves. Excluding the cost of donated goods, its funding reserves can cover 2.4 years of annual program costs. Increased cash flow from operations due to higher donations during covid-19 has caused an increase in funding reserves of $15.4m since F2019.  

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Ottawa Food Bank for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.  

Updated on June 8, 2022 by Emma Saganowich. 

News articles: Matthew Lapierre, "Inflation is driving Ottawa food bank use to record hights, no end in sight", Ottawa Citizen, September 20, 2022