Greater Vancouver Food Bank
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.
A
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
High
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.
85%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 85 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Greater Vancouver Food Bank:
Greater Vancouver Food Bank is a 5-star financially transparent charity with a High impact rating and an excellent A results reporting grade. It also has a reasonably sized reserve fund. For every dollar donated, 85 cents are available to go to the cause.
Founded in 1983, Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB) distributes food to those in need by distributing food through four locations in British Columbia and through its 150-member agency network. The charity specifically distributes food itself at facilities located in Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, and North Shore. Its agency network includes food banks, shelters, schools, and similar organizations.
The charity runs two programs: food distributed to individuals and agency support services, which includes both supplying food and grants to its agency network. It spent $13.1m cash on its programs and distributed $17.2m worth of food in the June 2024 (F2024) fiscal year.
A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top Canadian Impact Charity
A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 100 Rated Charity
Food distributed to individuals was 53% of this charity’s program spending. In F2024, the charity distributed 4,700,000 lb of food (68% fresh food and 32% non-perishables) to 27,373 unique individuals. According to the charity, 7,029 of its clients were first-time food bank users in F2024. The charity also diverted 80,000 lb of unharvested apples from provincial farms from landfills during F2024.
Agency network support was 47% of this charity’s program spending. GVFB distributed 4.2m lb of food and $451,607 worth of grants to 150 organizations in F2024. The charity did not disclose how many unique individuals visited its agency network.
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Results and Impact
Since Greater Vancouver Food Bank distributed 4.7m lb of food to 27,373 unique individuals across its four facilities, each client received an average of 171 lb of food during F2024. Also, since the charity spent $7.3m on distributing food to individuals, it spent around $267 / unique client served.
GVFB also distributed 4.2m lb of food to its 150-member agency network in F2024, meaning each organization received an average of 28,000 lb of food.
Combined, GVFB distributed 8.9m lb of food and had $17.1m total cash expenses. This means it spent around $1.92 / lb of food distributed to both individuals and its agency network.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Greater Vancouver Food Bank’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Greater Vancouver Food Bank a High impact score based on its demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top Canadian Impact Charity.
Impact Rating: High
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Finances
Greater Vancouver Food Bank’s F2024 audited financial statements follow activity-based costing – a best practice. This means it clearly shows its program, administrative, and fundraising expenses on its audited financial statements.
In F2024, GVFB received $23.3m worth of cash donations (100% of cash revenue excluding investment income) and no government funding. It received $18.0m worth of cash donations in F2023. The charity also received $17.2m worth of donated food during F2024.
Administrative costs are 3% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 11% of cash donations, meaning GVFB’s total overhead is 15%. For every dollar donated, 85 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range.
In F2024, GVFB spent $13.1m on financing food distribution operations (16% increase from $11.3m spent in F2023) and distributed $17.2m worth of food (6% increase from $16.2m worth of food distributed in F2023).
Greater Vancouver Food Bank is establishing a new food distribution facility in Vancouver to increase its food distribution capabilities. This explains why its capital expenditures have increased from $774k in F2023 to $3.7m in F2024.
At the end of F2024, GVFB had $32.2m worth of net reserve funds (cash and investments). This covers 246% or two years and six months of its annual program spending.
Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on May 27, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Questions or thoughts? Contact jdranitsaris@charityintelligence.ca.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 3.4% | 3.8% | 3.9% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 11.3% | 12.8% | 14.6% |
| Total overhead spending | 14.7% | 16.5% | 18.5% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 246.2% | 244.7% | 254.7% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 23,308 | 18,035 | 15,168 |
| Goods in kind | 17,170 | 16,244 | 12,535 |
| Government funding | 0 | 0 | 99 |
| Investment income | 2,205 | 1,286 | 81 |
| Total revenues | 42,683 | 35,565 | 27,883 |
| Program costs | 13,091 | 11,324 | 9,335 |
| Donated goods exp | 17,171 | 16,244 | 12,535 |
| Administrative costs | 1,386 | 1,289 | 1,078 |
| Fundraising costs | 2,635 | 2,304 | 2,217 |
| Total spending | 34,282 | 31,161 | 25,165 |
| Cash flow from operations | 8,401 | 4,405 | 2,717 |
| Capital spending | 3,651 | 774 | 655 |
| Funding reserves | 32,235 | 27,713 | 23,781 |
Note: 1. DEFERRED DONATIONS: Since GVFB follows deferred accounting, Ci adjusted donations for changes in deferred contributions to show donors financial information consistently. This affected total revenue by $92k in F2024, ($372k) in F2023, and ($1.2m) in F2022. 2. DEFERRED CAPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS: Ci adjusted donations for changes in contributions restricted for capital projects. This affected total revenue by $81k in F2024, ($357k) in F2023, and ($nil) in F2022. 3. DONATIONS RECEIVABLE: Ci adjusted donations for changes in donations receivable. This affected total revenue by $321k in F2024, ($32k) in F2023, and $82k in F2022. 4. CAPITAL ASSET DISPOSAL: Ci backed out gains on the disposal of capital assets from donations, affecting total revenue by ($12k) in F2024, ($2k) in F2023, and ($50k) in F2022. 5. UNREALIZED INVESTMENT GAINS AND LOSSES: Ci adjusted investment income for changes in fair investment value, affecting total revenue by $618k in F2024, $209k in F2023, and ($289k) in F2022. 6. AMORTIZATION: Ci backed out amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
1 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
4 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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