Food Banks Mississauga is a 4-star, financially transparent charity with a Good impact rating and an above-average A- results reporting grade. It also has a reasonably sized reserve fund. For every dollar donated, 70 cents are available to go to the cause.

Founded in 1986, Food Banks Mississauga (FBM) collects, organizes, and distributes food to those in need through its 69-member agency network of other smaller food banks, grocery stores, farmers, and schools. The charity distributes food and/or financial support to these agency partners. According to FBM, full-time workers and those living in market rentals are increasingly relying on its services. 27% of its clients have full-time jobs and 76% live in unsubsidized housing.

FBM’s food programs are the majority of its program spending. It includes its Food Bank 2 Home Delivery, Pop-Up Community Market, Reclaim Fresh, and Feed Collaboration programs. Its non-food program is its Tax Clinic. The charity spent $5.4m cash on its programs and grants. It also distributed $28.5m worth of food in the May 2024 fiscal year (F2024). FBM did not disclose how much it spent on each of its programs in its latest F2024 annual report at the time of this profile update.

Food Bank 2 Home is a meals program where the charity delivers customized food orders to qualifying households across Mississauga. In F2024, FBM distributed 225,680 meals to 754 unique individuals distributed across 508 households. The charity did not disclose the types or amount of food provided in each meal.

Pop-Up Community Market is an ongoing community event styled after a traditional farmers market at Mississauga’s Malton Community Centre. The charity distributed 114,210 pounds of food to 13,797 unique individuals across all events during F2024.

Reclaim Fresh includes FBM’s partnerships with grocery stores, farmers, and food wholesalers where the charity salvages food that would have otherwise been dumped in a landfill. In F2024, the charity rescued 2,530,271 lb of food.

Feed Collaboration is the amount of food delivered to its agency partners. In F2024, it distributed 3,546,191 lb of food to 38 agency partners.

FBM’s Tax Clinic is a free service offered to people who need help filing their tax returns. In F2024, FBM completed 506 tax returns for its clients.

Food Banks Mississauga’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing – a best practice. This means it clearly discloses how much it spent on program, administrative, and fundraising activities. However, FBM does not disclose its distributed grants in its latest audited financial statements.

In F2024, FBM received $6.2m worth of cash donations (85% of cash revenue) and $921k worth of government funding (13% of cash revenue). It also received $28.4m worth of donated food – a 52% increase from $18.7m received in F2023.

Administrative costs are 3% of total revenue and fundraising costs are 28% of donations. This means FBM’s total overhead spending is 30% and that for every dollar donated, 70 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable overhead spending range.

In F2024, FBM spent $5.4m on its programs ($3.0m on operating expenses and $2.4m in distributed grants) – a 12% decrease from $6.1m spent in F2023.

At the end of F2024, FBM had $4.1m worth of reserve funds (cash and investments) that covers 77% or around nine months of its annual program spending.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on May 28, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.