Second Harvest

About Second Harvest:

Founded in 1985, Second Harvest (SH) rescues and delivers fresh food to hungry people in Toronto. The charity reports that 1 in every 8 Canadian families struggles to put food on the table, and over 370,000 people in Toronto face food insecurity. It purchases, collects and distributes food to food agencies that feed hungry people throughout the city – this includes 11 new agencies moved off SH’s waiting list in F2016. SH also sends food to school programs and local food banks. In F2016, Second Harvest served 200,000 people facing food insecurity. Almost 40% of Second Harvest’s food recipients are children and youth.

Through its Food Rescue & Delivery program, Second Harvest gave out 9.5 million pounds of food in F2016, 16% more than in F2015. Of this food, 88% was perishable and 63% was nutrient-dense. The charity aims to rescue 10.2 million pounds of food in F2017. Through the 225 food agencies it worked with during the year, Second Harvest supported 591 programs – 32% were meal/snack programs, 27% were food bank & supplementary programs, 18% were after school & summer programs, 9% were shelter/rescue programs, 7% were outreach programs, and 7% were classified as other. The charity states that it saved each of its food agency partners an average of $106k in F2016.

Feeding Our Future is an annual summer program Second Harvest runs from July 4 to August 24, where it serves free lunches and snacks to kids in Toronto attending summer camps. In F2016, the charity supported 18 camps and fed 1,486 children.

Harvest Kitchens is a training program for adults and youth wanting to work in the food preparation industry. Program participants work under the supervision of food service professionals and the food they prepare is then delivered to Second Harvest’s food agency partners. In F2016, SH had 75 trainees, of which 71% graduated from the program.  

Second Harvest claims that by rescuing food, it stopped 5.1 million pounds of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere in F2016. Charity Intelligence has researched and reviewed Second Harvest since 2009 and has consistently found it to be a high-impact charity.

Financial Review:

With total cash donations and special events fundraising of $3.9m and donated food worth $23.7m in F2016, Second Harvest is one of Canada’s Major 100 charities, meaning it is one of Canada’s 100 largest charities in terms of donations. Administrative costs are 2% of revenues and fundraising costs are 30% of donations and special event revenue. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.68 goes towards its programs, which falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Funding reserves of $838k can cover 46% of annual program costs excluding the cost of donated food.

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

Updated on August 4, 2017 by Katie Khodawandi.