Feed Ontario (Ontario Association of Food Banks) is a top-rated, 5-star charity. It has Good demonstrated impact, full financial transparency, and excellent results reporting. 

Founded in 1992, Feed Ontario (previously called Ontario Association of Food Banks) distributes food and unites local food banks to end hunger and poverty. Feed Ontario has a network of 134 direct member food banks and supports 1,200 hunger-relief organizations across Ontario. The charity reports that 592,303 people accessed Ontario’s food bank network in F2021, resulting in 3.7 million food bank visits. 

A Charity Intelligence 2022 Top 10 Canadian Food Bank

Feed Ontario focuses on three main areas: food collection and distribution, innovative programming for people facing hunger, and research and advocacy about food insecurity and poverty. The charity allocated most of its program spending to food distribution and covid-19 relief in F2021. The charity does not provide a breakdown of spending on its programs.

According to its audited financial statements, Feed Ontario spent $31.4m on covid-19 relief programs in F2021; this included $17.0m in disbursements to member food banks, with the remainder going to transportation, food purchases, and emergency food boxes. The charity reports that there was a 26% increase in the number of people and families who accessed a food bank for the first time during the first three months of the pandemic. In F2021, Feed Ontario distributed 20.3 million pounds of food and 452,920 emergency food boxes through its covid-19 food programs.

Through its food collection and distribution programs, Feed Ontario provides food banks with fresh food and pantry staples. Feed Ontario has food partnerships with local farmers, who provide food for the charity’s poultry, milk, beef, pork, egg, and turkey programs. In F2021, the charity distributed 2.4 million litres of milk, 2.1 million servings of poultry, 1.4m servings of eggs, 148,364 servings of pork, 107,582 servings of beef, and 35,952 servings of turkey.

Feed Ontario had total cash donations of $7.0m and donated goods in kind of $41.7m in F2021. From F2020 to F2021, Feed Ontario’s cash donations increased by 549% and in-kind contributions increased by 207%. The covid-19 pandemic likely drove this spike in donations. It is important to note that the charity’s total expenses increased proportionally to the increase in revenues, suggesting that the charity was able to absorb and use the excess money it received.

Feed Ontario’s administrative costs are less than 1% of revenues (less investment income), and its fundraising costs are less than 1% of cash donations. This results in total overhead spending of 1%. For every dollar donated, 99 cents go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending, which is between 65 and 95 cents. In some cases, charities with less than 5% overhead costs may be underreporting their overhead spending. 

The charity has total funding reserves of $7.1m. Excluding the cost of donated goods, Feed Ontario could cover 21% or almost three months of its annual program costs with reserves. The charity’s program cost coverage spiked in F2020, due to an $8.1m covid-19 emergency relief grant from the government that was not spent before its year-end and held in cash.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Feed Ontario for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated July 4, 2022, by Sydney Olexa.