Food for Life Canada

2258 Mountainside Drive
Burlington, ON L7P 1B7
Executive Director: Brenda Hajdu
Board Chair: Catherine Potechin

Website: www.foodforlife.ca
Charitable Reg. #: 89094 3772 RR0001
Sector: Social Services - Food Bank (Distributor)
Operating Charity

Charity Rating

[Charity Rating: 4/4]

Donor Accountability

Grade: A-

The grade is based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.

Financial Transparency

Most recent audited financial statements available on the charity's website [ Audited financial statement for most recent year ]

Need for Funding

Funding Reserves Program Costs

Spending Breakdown

Full-time staff #9

Avg. Compensation $45,779

Top 10 Staff Salary Range

$350k + 0
$300k - $350k 0
$250k - $300k 0
$200k - $250k 0
$160k - $200k 0
$120k - $160k 0
$80k - $120k 1
$40k - $80k 5
< $40k 3
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2016

About Food for Life Canada:

Founded in 1995, Food for Life Canada (FFL) is a food bank that redistributes fresh and nutritious foods to local centres and poor people. FFL collects extra perishable food, including baked goods, fruits and vegetables, from grocery stores and restaurants through its ReFresh Foods program. FFL provides food to local people in emergencies, runs outreach programs and provides food to agencies. They work together with over 80 social services-based organizations in Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Georgetown and Acton.

In F2016, Food for Life Canada received and distributed $5.8m worth of food in donations. FFL reports that it gave out 2.5 million pounds of food in 2016. This distribution helped local food banks arrange 175,000 healthy meals per month for hunger relief. The charity states that its community programs received 38,239 visits every month, up 28% from the previous year. Food for Life Canada is mostly volunteer-driven with 40,960 volunteer hours logged in 2016.

To date, Food For Life has diverted over 10 million pounds of food or 235 trucks full of healthy food from landfills by donating excess food supplies. FFL records that every $1 donated to the charity funds $15.4 worth of food. Food for Life is included in Ci's 2016 Canadian Charity Impact Fund, one of 10 charities with high impact in the social services sector.

Financial Review:

Food for Life Canada is a Small-Cap charity, which received donations of $566k in F2016 as well as donated food worth $5.8m. Reconciling its T3010 filings with its audited financial statements, Ci calculated administrative costs are 1% of total revenues and fundraising costs are 17% of cash donations. For every dollar donated, 82 cents goes to the cause, falling within Ci’s reasonable range. FFL has total funding reserves of $478k. Excluding the cost of donated food, FFL’s funding reserves can cover program costs for a little over a month, indicating a significant funding need.

This report is an update and is currently being reviewed by the charity. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated May 12th, 2017 by Josh Lam.

Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending September 		201620152014
Administrative costs as % of revenues 1.0%1.5%0.9%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 17.3%9.9%7.1%
Program cost coverage (%) 7.4%5.2%6.2%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s 		201620152014
Donations 566446445
Goods in kind 5,8165,4075,191
Government funding 138136154
Other income 101018
Total revenues 6,5295,9985,807
Program costs 6,4405,9385,783
Administrative costs 628754
Fundraising costs 984431
Cash flow from operations (71)(70)(61)
Funding reserves 478308356
Note: Ci has excluded amortization of deferred capital contributions from its revenue calculations, reducing revenues by $48k in F2015, $55k in F2014 and $70k in F2013. Ci removed gains on disposal of vehicles from revenues. Fundraising and administrative costs were extracted from FFL's T3010 filings with the CRA.   

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