Canadian Feed the Children is a 5-star charity. It is financially transparent and has reasonable overhead costs. It also has an average results reporting grade of B. Charity Intelligence has given it a rating of Good for its demonstrated impact per dollar spent. 

Founded in 1986, Canadian Feed the Children (CFTC) is an international aid charity focused on fighting poverty, with a particular focus on reducing hunger and creating sustainable development. CFTC runs programs in Canada, Bolivia, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Uganda.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

Canadian Feed the Children is categorized as an international development charity. However, it has historically spent more money on domestic programming ($3.1m domestically versus $2.7m internationally in F2023).

CFTC runs four main groups of programs: Food & Income, Women & girls, Nutrition, and Food Systems. CFTC did not provide a breakdown of its program spending.

CFTC’s Food & Income programs are focused on providing agricultural training and support. It prioritizes climate change adaptation training. The charity states that farmers in West Africa has already lost up to 20% of their millet and sorghum crops due to cimate change. In F2023, 4,539 people were trained on climate-smart agriculture. A further 1,940 people participated in traditional practices & land based education. CFTC runs Food & Income programs both domestically and internationally.

CFTC’s Women & Girls programs prioritize economically uplifting women and girls. The states that of the 6,077 members of the 195 savings groups it ran in F2023, 76% were women. It provided business skills training to 969 people, 95% of which were women. It trained 3,494 people on gender equality.

CFTC’s Nutrition programs aim to provide nutritious food to children in schools. The charity claims that long-term food insecurity can stunt growth, increase vulnerability to disease, and cause physical, social and cognitive deficits. In F2023, CFTC ran programming in 92 ECCE (Early Childhood Education and Care) centres and primary schools. It provided 3,453 students with school supplies. Overall, it supported 41,241 students with its nutrition programs.

CFTC’s Food Systems programs primarily work to provide food security by directly providing food to people and encouraging traditional food gathering and nutritional practices in indigenous communities. In F2023, CFTC provided 3,213,457 meals and snacks to 15,496 children through school food programs. It also provided 11,738 food hampers to 1,088 households. It also trained 4,091 people on nutrition, cooking, and food use.

In F2023, Canadian Feed the Children received $9.4m in donations. Administrative costs are 12% of revenue and Fundraising costs are 15% of donations for a total overhead spending of 27%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 73 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.  

The charity has $5.2m in reserve funds, which can cover program costs at the F2023 level for almost ten months.

According to CFTC’s F2023 T3010 filing with the CRA, it spent $65k on external fundraisers who raised $157k, for a total cost of 41 cents to raise a dollar.

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

Updated July 19, 2024 by Ben Dobozy