120 The East Mall
Etobicoke, ON M8Z 5V5
CEO: Lori Nikkel
Board Chair: Jeff Hauswirth

Charitable Reg. #:13386 5477 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

[Charity Rating: 5/5]

✔+

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.

71%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 71 cents are available for programs.



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OVERVIEW

About Second Harvest:

Second Harvest is a 5-star charity with a High impact rating. It is one of Canada’s largest food rescue charities and is financially transparent with a high results reporting grade. 

Founded in 1985, Second Harvest rescues fresh food and delivers it to people in Canada. According to Second Harvest, 6.7 million Canadians use non-profit food services every year. The charity also reports that 11.2 million metric tons of unsold excess food goes to landfills across the food industry in Canada each year. Second Harvest currently recovers food from 5,700 food donors and distributes it to 3,700 non-profit and charitable organizations that feed people across Canada. In F2022, Second Harvest supported 4.3 million people.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

In F2022, through its Food Rescue and Delivery program, Second Harvest rescued and redistributed 53.3 million pounds of food (41 million in F2021). The food was 47% produce, 12% bread and grains, 10% dairy & dairy alternatives, 9% baked goods and snacks, 8% prepared foods, 7% meats & alternatives, 4% water and beverages and 4% condiments. In F2022, 86% of food donations were perishable. Second Harvest moved to a new warehouse with more freezer space. The new facility increased the amount of food rescued through the warehouse by 69%.

Feeding Our Future is an annual 8-week summer program where Second Harvest serves free meal kits to kids attending summer camps. In F2022, the charity provided over 16,000 kits and healthy lunches through 32 camps across the GTA.

Harvest Kitchens is a training program for adults and youth who want to work in the food preparation industry. Program participants work under the supervision of food service professionals. The food they prepare is then delivered to Second Harvest’s food agency partners. As of F2022, Second Harvest reports ten Harvest Kitchens production partners and 110 recipient organizations.

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Results and Impact

Second Harvest reports that it averted 162m pounds of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in F2022. Also, Second Harvest reports that 31.2 billion liters of water were not wasted because of its work. In F2022, Second Harvest rescued and redistributed 53.3m pounds of food. The charity reports a social return on investment of 4.45:1.

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Second Harvest’s results and impact. 

Charity Intelligence gave Second Harvest an impact rating of High for proven impact per dollar.

 

Impact Rating: High

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Finances

In F2022, Second Harvest received donations and special events revenue of $13.1m and donated food worth $184.7m. Second Harvest received government funding of $32.9m for the Surplus Food Rescue Program and the Emergency Food Security Program.

Administrative costs are 1% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 28% of donations and special events revenue. This results in overhead costs of 29%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 71 cents go towards the charity’s programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Second Harvest has $16.0m in reserve funds. These funds are Second Harvest’s cash and investments. Excluding the cost of donated food and donated volunteer services, the reserves can cover just over five months of program costs.

This charity report is an update that was sent to Second Harvest for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 6, 2023, by Alessandra Castino.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending August
202220212020
Administrative costs as % of revenues 1.1%1.3%1.6%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 27.7%10.3%7.2%
Total overhead spending 28.8%11.6%8.8%
Program cost coverage (%) 42.0%63.2%105.6%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s
202220212020
Donations 11,51019,21224,311
Goods in kind 184,71497,92564,539
Government funding 32,94310,00121,157
Business activities (net) 035340
Special events 1,5661,242710
Investment income 137230328
Total revenues 230,870128,646111,384
Program costs 38,17128,49415,491
Grants 007,962
Donated goods exp 184,71497,92664,539
Administrative costs 2,5251,6791,816
Fundraising costs 3,6212,1081,803
Total spending 229,031130,20691,611
Cash flow from operations 1,839(1,560)19,773
Capital spending 4,1334,6001,214
Funding reserves 16,03018,01124,763

Note: Ci excluded amortization of deferred capital contributions, affecting revenues by ($879k) in F2022, ($664k) in F2021 and ($832k) in F2020. Ci adjusted for non-government deferred donations and deferred capital contributions affecting revenues by $270k in F2022, $3.2m in F2021, and $6.0m in F2020. Ci also adjusted for government deferred donations affecting revenues by $822k in F2022, ($10.5m) in F2021, and $10.8m in F2020.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 101

Avg. compensation: $55,298

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
0
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
1
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
2
$120k - $160k
5
$80k - $120k
2
$40k - $80k
0
< $40k
0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022

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Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

This comment is from a previous version of the charity's report and it may be updated by the charity.  

Comments provided by Second Harvest October 16, 2020

Feeding Our Future (FOF)

  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FOF program pivoted from providing lunches at camp locations to providing kits with proteins, produce and grains plus an activity that were distributed/delivered to families
  • 72,500 pounds of food turned into 12,385 activity kits were distributed June through August
  • 1,600 families and 2,000 children and youth have received activity kits

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment & Second Harvest Partnership: Bringing Toronto Back to Its Feet

  • MLSE and Second Harvest’s partnership, Bringing Toronto Back to Its Feet, was aimed at supporting front-line health care workers and food shelters
  • Every day, 13,000 meals were prepared, allowing us to donate and deliver to food banks and shelters across the GTA
  • Over 320,000 take-away meals were prepared and distributed to our GTA-based network

Harvest Kitchens

  • With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, all Harvest Kitchen partners halted on-site training programs and operations
  • Kitchen partners have not yet been able to resume on-site training
  • They eventually resumed to function as emergency food production kitchens, meeting the community need for prepared, individual take-away meals

Food Rescue.ca Emergency Funding

  • We were given $11,250,000 by AAFC (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) to distribute to organizations across Canada for COVID-19 relief
  • We funded 684 organizations, distributing $10,158,562 across Canada
  • Approximately 623,416 individuals were supported by this funding
  • 25% of funding directed to Indigenous-led groups/organizations

Sprott Grocery Gift Cards

  • Funded 588 organizations
  • $6.3 Million in Loblaw grocery gift cards were distributed across Canada
  • It is estimated that 445,741 individuals were supported by this funding

North West Company

  • 137 communities were funded in 9 provinces and territories, including Indigenous, rural, remote and fly-in communities
  • $3.6 Million in food vouchers and food product were distributed to individuals, food banks and Indigenous communities
  • An estimated 22,092 families were supported by this funding

Surplus Food Rescue Program

  • The Surplus Food Rescue Program is an ongoing program to purchase commodities from farmers and producers and distribute to communities across Canada
  • Approximately 2 Million pounds of food has been delivered to date
  • 40,225 pounds of food has been delivered so far to Northern communities

 

Charity Contact

Website: www.secondharvest.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-408-2594

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Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001