Moisson Montreal is a 5-star rated charity with High demonstrated impact. The charity is financially transparent and has an excellent results reporting grade. Its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has $5.5m in reserve funds, which can cover a year and three months of program costs.

Founded in 1984, Moisson Montréal (MML) collects, sorts, stores, and distributes food to community agencies across Montreal. It is the largest food bank of its kind in Canada. Moisson Montréal is a member of Food Banks Canada and Food Banks of Quebec.

In its 2022 Hunger Count, Moisson Montréal states that the number of Montrealers using food assistance increased in 2022. The charity’s community agencies reported receiving 898,381 food aid requests in March 2022, a 25.8% increase compared to March 2021. The charity adds that more and more students, families and workers are reaching out to food banks for help.

Moisson Montréal is a Charity Intelligence 2022 Top 10 Canadian Food Bank.

Food distribution – 94% of program spending

In F2023, Moisson Montréal distributed food to 303 community agencies in and around Montreal. The charity provided 40,321,628 lb of food worth $125.9 million to its network of agencies. This is a 7% increase in food distributed compared with F2022. This includes 13,112,239 lb of fruits and vegetables (33% of distributed food). Moisson Montréal uses the NOVA index to classify the food it distributes based on its level of processing. 58% of the food it provided in F2023 was fresh, minimally processed foods or processed culinary ingredients.

According to the charity’s most recent Hunger Count (F2022), meal programs run by community agencies served 675,217 meals and snacks in F2022. Food pantry programs received 223,164 visits from 99,130 individuals, 36% of which were children. The number of individuals visiting food pantry programs increased 7% from F2021.

Operations, services and donations to community agencies – 6% of program spending

To reduce food waste in grocery stores, Moisson Montréal runs a Food Recovery in Supermarkets program (FRSP). In F2023, the program saved unsold food from 130 participating stores and redistributed it to community agencies. FRSP recovered 25,673,329 lb of food in F2023, a 15% increase from F2022. The charity states that this program is its main source of meat collection. Additionally, the charity hosted Les Grands Échanges in F2023, which allowed about 50 organization representatives to learn more about the charity.

In F2023, Moisson Montréal reports benefiting from the help of 5,546 volunteers, contributing 61,052 hours of work.

Moisson Montréal is financially transparent. Its audited financial statements are publicly available on its website.

In F2023, Moisson Montréal reported $8.9m in cash donations and special events fundraising and $125.3m in donated food. Administrative costs are 1% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 11% of cash donations and special events. This means that for every dollar donated, 88 cents are available for programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

Moisson Montréal has reserve funds of $5.5m which can cover program costs for a year and three months. This excludes the cost of food used in programs.

At the time of this profile update, the charity’s F2023 T3010 filing with the CRA is not publicly available. Hence, the most recent data for staff compensation is from F2022.

This report is an update that has been sent to Moisson Montréal for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 6, 2023 by Victoria Allder.