Canadian Feed the Children

About Canadian Feed the Children:

Canadian Feed the Children (CFTC) is an international development organization with a vision of “a world where children thrive, free from poverty.” Its mission is to “work with local partners internationally and in Canada to enhance the well-being of children and the self-sufficiency of their families and communities.” CFTC's programs focus on food security, education and capacity building in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, and with Aboriginal communities in Canada (see update below on First Nations breakfast program).

In 2012, Canadian Feed the Children adopted a new Theory of Change model, shifting its focus to long-term, community-based, sustainable development. In line with this change, CFTC no longer ships gift-in-kind medicines, which historically made up a large portion of the charity’s revenues.

Canadian Feed the Children’s food security programs (68% of F2016 program costs) focus on community-based agricultural, income-generating, feeding and nutrition programs, implemented by local partners. In F2016, 30,356 farmers received agricultural training, and 21,807 farmers received agricultural inputs such as seeds, tools, plants and livestock. Also in F2016, CFTC’s school nutrition program provided 5.05 million meals and snacks to children. In a 2014 survey, 81% of CFTC’s food security program beneficiaries rated their knowledge of good nutrition from medium to high.

Canadian Feed the Children’s education programs (17% of program costs) focus on early childhood care, improving school attendance and graduation rates, agricultural training for adults, and improving education policies, especially for girls. In F2016, CFTC supported 45,573 students to attend primary school. Further, its education programs recruited and trained 164 teachers, built 7 new classrooms and installed 10 water and sanitation facilities. CFTC works with local partners in Ethiopia to improve teacher training and infrastructure.

Finally, Canadian Feed the Children’s capacity building programs (11% of program costs) support strong, sustainable organizations, such as village savings and loan associations. In F2016, CFTC supported 212 Village Savings and Loan Associations and micro-finance groups.

Update: one area of potentially high impact for donors is Canadian Feed the Children's First Nations Breakfast program. CFTC provides hot breakfasts to First Nation students in 10 locations. With a $1 million donation from the Slaight Family Foundation in February 2016, CFTC's goal is to reach 20 First Nation communities by 2020.

Financial Review:

Canadian Feed the Children is a big-cap charity with donations of $12.0m in F2016. Its administrative costs are 5% of revenues and its fundraising costs are 14% of donations. For every dollar donated, 81 cents go towards CFTC’s programs, falling within Ci’s reasonable range. CFTC has funding reserves of $5.3m, resulting in a program cost coverage ratio of 56%. This means that the charity can cover just under 7 months of its annual program costs using its existing reserves, indicating a need for funding.

Canadian Feed the Children uses external fundraisers as part of its fundraising activities. While the CRA has not yet released CFTC’s F2016 T3010 filing, in F2015 the charity reported $278k in fundraising costs for external fundraisers that raised $549k, producing an external fundraising cost ratio of 51%.

This charity report is an update that is being reviewed by Canadian Feed the Children. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 7, 2017 by Kevin Silberberg.