Founded in 1988, Food for the Hungry Canada (FH Canada) is part of the global Food for the Hungry network, dedicated to ending poverty one community at a time. FH Global is a network of Christian charities working to address poverty in more than 20 countries. Food for the Hungry Canada works directly with low-income communities to help them “graduate from poverty”, or become self-sufficient within ten years of partnering with the charity. FHC works with 85 communities across Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Rwanda, and Uganda.

FH Canada uses a holistic approach to eradicating poverty, with projects in four main focus areas: Health, Education, Livelihoods, and Leadership. In F2020, FH Canada spent 95% of program costs on international programs, 3% on Canadian programs, and 2% on public awareness and education. It did not provide a spending breakdown for its international programs.

In F2020, FH Canada reports that it helped a total of 178,887 people across 38,218 households. Through its Health projects, it trained 19,908 people on health and hygiene topics, and trained a further 1,353 people on nutrition and meal preparation. It also gave sanitary supplies to 865 women during the year. In F2020, FH Canada’s Education programs sent learning materials to 9,199 students and built nine new classrooms. Through its Livelihood programs, it supported 9,309 people through 390 Savings and Loans groups, helping members access 4,190 loans during the year. It also trained 6,798 people in farming techniques and 568 families in livestock management. FH Canada’s Leadership projects aim to train local leaders in skills such as safety precautions during covid-19 and disaster risk reduction. In F2020, the charity partnered with 129 churches to train 738 new leaders.

FH Canada also runs a Relief and Humanitarian Assistance program to respond to disasters and emergencies. In F2020, it states that it provided 2.5 million people with deworming medications and delivered emergency food aid to 1,658 households. It also supported 2,725 South Sudanese refugees with food aid and funded four medical centres serving 62,181 refugees in Bangladesh.

Food for the Hungry Canada received $6.5m in donations in F2020. It also received $4.8m in donated goods and supplies for its international programs, representing 42% of revenues. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 24% of cash donations. This results in total overhead spending of 29%. For every dollar donated, 71 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

FH Canada has $2.3m in total funding reserves. It could cover 52% or around six months of annual program costs with its existing reserves.

According to its annual filing with the Charities Directorate, FH Canada used external fundraisers in F2020.  It paid external fundraisers $508k to raise $2.3m, at a cost of $0.22 per dollar raised.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to FH Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 17, 2021 by Eric Zhao.