Charity Intelligence

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Food insecurity is a serious health problem in Canada. It is associated with poorer health, psychological, social, and emotional outcomes. In Alberta, one in ten individuals experience food insecurity, with 17% children living in food insecure households. The existence of food banks is becoming more important as the need for these facilities by families increases. The Calgary Food Bank constantly collecting feedback from our clients, partner agencies, donors, and volunteers. By asking questions and analyzing the responses, we commit to continuous improvement. For a more comprehensive look at our financial overview, please refer to our audited financials.
General Information
Volunteer & Staff
96,495 HOURS OF VOLUNTEERING
- Staff 62%
- Volunteers 38%
Fund Contribution Sources
- Personal (47%) 47%
- Corporations (22%) 22%
- Foundations (21%) 21%
- Communities (10%) 10%
ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES
$44,367,383 SPENT ON PROGRAMMING
- Emergency Food Hampers $35.2M (79.27%) 79.27%
- Food Link $3.6M (8.10%) 8.10%
- Food Share $3.5M (7.93%) 7.93%
- Hampers for the Homeless $1.2M (2.70%) 2.70%
- Weekends and More $426,464 (.96%) .96%
- Purchasing Power $232,875 (.52%) .52%
- Welcome Home $227,374 (.51%) .51%
ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES: AMOUNT SPENT ON PROGRAMMING ($44,367,383)
This value is calculated using expenses that directly contributed to programming.
Expenses total: $47,379,973; minus expenses not related to specific programs: $3,012,590; equals the total spend on programming: $41,432,743.
Expense Total (+) | Expenses not related to specific programs (-) | Total spent on programming (=) |
$47,379,973 |
Development and Fundraising: $86,554 Communications and resource development: $87,995 Administration and finance: $1,978,679 Client services (portion not spent on programming): $859,362TOTAL: $3,012,590 |
$44,367,383 |
Emergency Food Hampers
PROGRAM DISCUSSION
The Emergency Food Hamper Program aims to achieve the Calgary Food Bank’s vision of a hunger-free community and attempts to address hunger and food insecurity as the program provides food and community supports to qualified clients.
An Emergency Food Hamper is a collection of food items providing 7 to ten days’ worth of food to clients based on the household’s size. We strives to meet Canada’s Food Guide recommendations when determining hamper content. There are five specialty hampers distributed through the Emergency Food Hamper Program; baby hampers, birthday party kits, Celiac hampers, prenatal hampers, and renal hampers.
CAUSES Food insecurity in Canada continues to be prominent. As per data collected between 2017 and 2019, in the Calgary region 7.9% households are either moderately or severely food insecure [1]. This insecurity is currently being affected by Calgary’s unemployment rate, reaching 7% in June of 2019 [2]. Low household income, which can be created by unemployment, is the leading cause of food insecurity [3].
EFFECTS There are a number of negative outcomes related to food insecurity, including poor physical and mental health, and increased risk of chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, heart issues, etc.), which creates a drain on the Canadian health care system.
WHO IS AFFECTED The Emergency Food Hamper Program is designed for individuals or households that cannot access food due to financial constraints.
[2] Statistics Canada, “Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area,” July 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410029402. [Accessed 24 July 2019].
[3] Food Banks Canada, “HungerCount 2018,” Food Banks Canada, Mississauga, 2019.
- Clients who indicated feeling tense or stressed out at least once or twice daily. 60%
OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES
Emergency Food Hampers provide clients in temporary emergency situations with one week’s worth of food and referrals to outside organizations. Food is provided to low-income and food insecure Calgarians. We connect clients with community resources that can address the underlying issues of food insecurity. 25% of clients are referred to other community agencies.
GOALS The goals for the program are to be within 10%, plus or minus in the coming fiscal year. Our goals in 2019/20 for hampers distributed was met, goals for money saved and clients helped by agencies was exceeded. Our goal for referring to agencies was not met, and this can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When a state of emergency was declared in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Calgary Food Bank made immediate changes to the Emergency Food Hamper Program. The purpose of these changes was to ensure the health and safety of volunteers, clients, and staff. The most significant change was the implementation of the outdoor drive-thru model of distribution, followed by online ID validation to reduce physical contact. As many partner organizations closed or reduced operations, we amended its referral policies so that clients could receive immediate food support. Hamper distribution hours and hamper request phone-line hours were increased, as well as the number and frequency of hampers that a household could access within a twelve-month period. Hamper requests are now assessed on a case-by-case basis with no annual cap, and the frequency at which a household could access Emergency Food Hampers is reduced to as soon as ten days.
Over the course of 2020 we continued to improve the processes that had been introduced in response to COVID-19. These adaptations have been successful in allowing the us to book and process more clients’ requests, therefore increasing the amount of community members whose immediate hunger needs are being met. Some changes, however, have resulted in a more ‘transactional’ process putting much of work the Calgary Food Bank does to refer clients to additional community supports or programs on hold. Indeed, further longitudinal analysis may provide more insight into the detrimental impact of relaxed policies on client dependency and prolonged root cause issues.
- 72% of programs that had previously referred to the Calgary Food Bank saw a decrease in referrals made.
- 19% increased their referrals.
- 157 programs (34%) made no referrals during the period March 2020 – January 2021.
- 44 new programs (9%) joined during the same period.
Now, over a year on from the introduction of COVID-19 response policies,we are in the early stages of working to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on partner organizations’ operations, and to take actions to improve communications and referral processes under new circumstances. Surveying 62 agencies and through consequential in-depth interviews about the impact of COVID-19 on their operations, engagement with and experience with the Calgary Food Bank in March 2021, illustrated that not all agencies had knowledge of the Food Bank’s adapted policies in response to COVID-19. The 52 responses to the statement: ‘I have knowledge about the Calgary Food Bank’s change in how many days clients must leave in between hampers (previously 30 days, now 10 days)’, 69.2% somewhat agreed or strongly agreed, while 28.9% somewhat or strongly disagreed. This indicates a significant amount of agency workers who did not have updated information. As such, this identified as an area to improve to ensure that the program’s offerings are equally accessible for clients for whom the agency is their main access point to emergency food. This understanding demonstrates that positive programmatic change, decoupled from proactive, exhaustive communication, renders change less effective and must become a focus area. Already work is underway to build better relationships with agencies; to ensure comprehensive training at the point of joining for all agency workers working in partnership with the Calgary Food Bank via the Emergency Hamper Program and to better understand the channels by which agencies access information about the Food Bank Program and any changes.
Referrals both to the Food Bank and from the Food Bank to relevant community supports fell drastically during the pandemic and remain lower than previous years (see data on referrals below). While these statistics can be justified by necessary adaptations in response to COVID-19, the more ‘transactional’ process does not serve Calgary Food Bank’s mission to tackle root causes and as referenced earlier, we cannot yet assess the negative impact that relaxed policies may have had a client’s food insecurity. Through closer partnership with agencies, the program team seeks to build back better referral processes through improved training, data-informed referrals, improved information navigation and improved quality assurance measures.
We are projecting for 2021/22, the number of Emergency Hampers distributed to be between 79,359 (min) and 96,995 (max).
We are projecting for 2021/22, the number of referrals to agencies to be between 404 (min) and 494 (max).
We are projecting for 2021/22 the money saved to be between $27,837,953 million (min) and $34,024,165 million (max).
We are projecting for 2021/22 the clients helped by agencies to be between 19,748 (min) and 24,136 (max).
SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES Relieving food insecurity and providing support for clients who are experiencing emergency situations. Alleviate the stress of wondering where the next meal is coming from.
LONG-TERM OUTCOMES Creating a hunger-free community.
Descriptions and definitions
UNIQUE CLIENTS
This is calculated by counting all members of the household only once, irrespective of their number of visits to the program.
REFERRALS TO AGENCIES
A referral out is where a client, calling into the Calgary Food Bank, is provided with information about community supports that can help address their underlying root cause of food insecurity. Clients may receive a referral at anytime they call our call centre, they do not necessarily have to book an hamper in order to receive a referral to an agency.
CLIENTS HELPED BY AGENCIES
A critical part of the Emergency Food Hamper program’s theory is that the clients build connections and receive referrals to available community services for their needs.
MONEY SAVED
Clients are asked how they use the money saved by accessing the Emergency Food Hamper program. Based on the responses, a majority of clients use the money to pay their bills. The second most common response is spending money on rent and additional food. They also use this money for expenditures related to their children, health care, and transportation. Despite this, there is a large section of clients that do not have any spare money to spend on any other expenses. They come to the food bank in situations where they have absolutely no money and need food. This reinforces the theory that the population that accesses food banks are the extremely food insecure segment of the population. These clients use their funds on their fundamental physiological needs such as shelter.
During the period of 2019/20, 9% of the unique clients of the program resulted from a referral from one of the 344 different resources, community agencies and their affiliated programs.
2020/21
Hampers provided | 88,177 |
Unique clients | 55,300 |
Unique clients under 18 | 20,209 |
Clients referred to agencies | 449 |
Clients helped by agencies* | 21,942 |
Agencies/programs receiving referrals from the Food Bank | 75 |
Agencies/programs sending referrals to the Food Bank | 324 |
Money saved** | $30,931,059 |
AGE BREAKDOWN
- Female Children 35%
- Female Adults 65%
- Male Children 39%
- Male Adults 61%
Female | Male | Agender | |
Under 36 Months | 1,779 (3%) | 2,211 (3%) | 1 |
Age 3-12 | 5,637 (10%) | 6,047 (11%) | 7 |
Age 13-17 | 2,362 (4%) | 2,529 (5%) | 13 |
Age 18-64 | 17,373 (31%) | 15,566 (28%) | 72 |
Age 65+ | 1,045 (2%) | 1,035 (2%) | 0 |
2019/20
Hampers provided | 67,879 |
Unique clients | 67,734 |
Unique clients under 18 | 24,668 |
Clients referred to agencies | 6,329 |
Clients helped by agencies* | 28,898 |
Agencies/programs receiving referrals from the Food Bank | 344 |
Agencies/programs sending referrals to the Food Bank | 392 |
Money saved** | $24,946,147 |
AGE BREAKDOWN
- Female Children 35%
- Female Adults 65%
- Male Children 38%
- Male Adults 62%
Female | Male | Agender | |
Under 36 Months | 2,323 (3%) | 2,316 (3%) | 1 |
Age 3-12 | 6,887 (10%) | 7,364 (11%) | 8 |
Age 13-17 | 2,790 (4%) | 2,975 (4%) | 4 |
Age 18-64 | 21,176 (31%) | 19,540 (29%) | 34 |
Age 65+ | 1,178 (2%) | 1,138 (2%) | 0 |
2018/19
Hampers provided | 69,249 |
Unique clients | 66,588 |
Unique clients under 18 | 23,994 |
Clients referred to agencies | 12,157 |
Clients helped by agencies* | 32,139 |
Agencies/programs receiving referrals from the Food Bank | 315 |
Agencies/programs sending referrals to the Food Bank | 429 |
Money saved** | $17,082,288 |
AGE BREAKDOWN
- Female Children 35%
- Female Adults 65%
- Male Children 38%
- Male Adults 62%
Female | Male | Agender | |
Under 36 Months | 1,835 (2.76%) |
1,929 (2.90%) |
6 |
Age 3-12 | 7,033 (10.56%) |
7,435 (11.17%) |
8 |
Age 13-17 | 2,804 (4.21%) |
2,940 (4.42%) |
4 |
Age 18-64 | 20,985 (31.51%) |
19,289 (28.97%) |
28 |
Age 65+ | 1,169 (1.76%) |
1,121 (1.68%) |
2 |
LEARNINGS
- As a response to client feedback, and to better support clients who were in quarantine, shielding, or did not feel safe travelling to the Food Bank, we introduced a new mode of hamper distribution: Third-party Pick-ups. Clients are now able to have a family member, friend, or other group pick-up a hamper on their behalf with the scan of a unique QR code.
- We are dependent on volunteers to power the Emergency Food Hamper Program. During December 2020 and January 2021, Health and Safety restricted physical space within the call centre, coupled with extra-ordinary volunteer cancellations meant that clients calling the call centre were met with higher-than-average wait times (9.5 minutes as opposed to 4.4 minutes) and ultimately increased proportion of abandoned calls (23% as opposed to 20%) were observed. Immediate adaptations were made in response to these challenges: increasing staff capacity to field calls and creating a basic online referral form that clients could independently complete to reduce the length of calls to the call centre. While the short-term solutions were effective to reduce negative impacts; a key learning taken was that to ensure effective programs robust processes, technology and training must be in place. Since, call centre training has been moved into an online format to ensure both best practice training and to reduce the burden on staff so that they are available to support volunteers and field calls.
* Clients being helped by other agencies is the number of hampers referred to the Food Bank from other agencies.
**Money saved can be used to pay off debt, pay for rent, utilities, medical bills, childcare, etc. The money saved includes all emergency hampers and baby hampers. The estimated value of each hamper is as follows: Pink $205, Blue $368, Green $511, Purple $716, Orange $880 and Baby $65.
Mobile Hampers
PROGRAM DISCUSSION
The Mobile Hamper Program provides ready to eat, shelf stable food* for the short-term relief of hunger to people living rough (homeless, at risk of becoming homeless, or otherwise impoverished populations). [*requiring minimal/no preparation or refrigeration]
The first goal of the program is to provide short-term hunger relief to clients and the ability to connect clients with agencies that can help with the underlying root cause of their food insecurity. The second goal is for agencies to use the food as a way to connect with clients experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. In addition, the program helps agencies free up time and resources spent on food acquisition that can be used towards programming for clients.
CAUSES Homelessness is understood by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness as the situation of an individual or household without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it. [1]
EFFECTS The need for this program remains crucial as the homeless population is disproportionately effected by food insecurity and lack of food [2].
WHO IS AFFECTED Agencies that support and distribute to a population experiencing homelessness and the population experiencing homelessness.
Unlike the Emergency Food Hamper Program, with the Mobile Hamper Program we do not directly connect with the food insecure population receiving the hampers. We work with agencies that are based in Calgary and who are working with individuals that are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. We rely on reporting by the agencies accessing the program to evaluate the impact. According to the reporting by the agencies, the largest segment of the target population that received hampers are categorized as un-sheltered or absolutely homeless and living on the streets or in places not intended for human habitation.
[2] Parpouchi, M., Moniruzzaman, A., Russolillo, A., & Somers, J. M. (2016). Food insecurity among homeless adults and mental illness. PLoS ONE, 11, e0159334.
OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES
The Mobile Hamper Program addresses food insecurity by providing the short-term relief of hunger to those living rough. The root causes of long-term hunger are also addressed as clients are given hampers by organizations which provide support for individuals experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. The food acts as a connector and allows partner organizations to work with individuals to transition them out of poverty. This program reduces poverty by relieving some financial and mental strain on those living rough, and allowing individuals to use the funds and resources to move into a stable shelter situation. We collaborate with 12 non-profit organizations that are working with the homeless population.
GOALS The goals for the program are to be within 10%, plus or minus in the coming fiscal year.
The goal number of hampers distributed in 2019/20 was exceeded because of the introduction of the bulk food option, which allowed partner organizations to receive bulk food instead of pre-made hampers to better serve the needs of their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic where agencies required additional food to support their clients. The Hampers for the Homeless Program successfully met this demand increasing the distribution of hamper content by 12.4% compared to the previous year seeing 24,579 hampers distributed in 2019/20 compared to 21,531 the previous year. Much of this increase came in the final fiscal quarter (June to August 2020) when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Through this distribution, the program potentially saved $737,370 for its partner organizations. Our goal for 2019/20 in this area was also exceeded because of the increased need for the program.
We are projecting for 2021/22, the number of Hampers for the Homeless distributed to be between 26,353 (min) and 32,209 (max). We are projecting for 2021/22 the money saved to be between $977,693 (min) and $1,194,958 (max).
SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES Supplying nutrition to those living rough and may not have another source of food.
LONG-TERM OUTCOMES Creating a hunger-free community.
On a given night, 3,430 Calgarians experience homelessness.
– The Calgary Homeless Foundation
Aboriginal people are over-represented in the homeless population. They make 3% of the Calgary population but make 20% of its homeless population.
What's in a Hamper?
▪ Canned meat (2)
▪ Canned soup (2)
▪ Dry soup (2)
▪ Fruit/pudding (4)
▪ Juice/drinks (2)
▪ Oatmeal (6)
▪ Snacks (1)
▪ Bag of cutlery and napkins (1)
2020/21
Number of agencies | 12 |
Number of bags distributed | 29,281 |
Money saved* | $1,086,325 |
2019/2020
Number of agencies | 12 |
Number of bags distributed | 24,579 |
Money saved* | $737,370 |
2018/2019
Number of agencies | 13 |
Number of bags distributed | 21,531 |
Money saved* | $645,930 |
* Dollar value of hamper savings, allowing agencies focus on their programming rather than outsourcing food.
LEARNINGS
Despite ongoing efforts to ensure the content provided through the Mobile Hampers Program meets the needs of its clients, the Calgary Food Bank has never received 100% satisfaction in this content across all agencies that access it. This comes with various suggestions for improvement which have been a tremendous assistance in understanding the needs of the population this program serves.
Further methods of gaining evaluation have been utilized. Calgary Homeless Foundation’s Client Action Committee was consulted on November 7, 2019 to gain the perspective of those with lived experience of homelessness. This consultation provided key insights which have since been integrated into the program in various ways. This included a move to include fresh fruit among the content items which is now a well-received item.
Food Link
PROGRAM DISCUSSION
The Food Link Program provides food and supplies to qualified agencies, free of charge, to better support their programming. Giving food and supplies allows us to increase the effectiveness of agencies by permitting the reallocation of funds to programming for those in need. Unlike the Emergency Hamper Program, we do not directly connect with the food insecure population. We rely on reporting by the agencies using the program to evaluate the impact.
CAUSES Food insecurity in Canada is prominent, with Alberta’s rate at 11.40% and Calgary at 11% [1].
EFFECTS There are a number of negative outcomes related to food insecurity, including poor physical and mental health, and increased risk of chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, heart issues, etc.), which creates a drain on the Canadian health care system.
WHO IS AFFECTED Agencies that are qualified to access the Food Link Program. The beneficiaries of this program include social service organizations that provide a range of services for children, youth, families, immigrants, refugees, the elderly, the disabled, the homeless, the poor, and others. See the list of our Food Link agencies.
OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES
Bulk food and supplies are provided to partner agencies. The output is determined on assumptions such as all goods taken out of Food Link are weighed. Food that is typically picked-up from Food Link is 60% non-perishable and 40% perishable. On average 207,800 pounds of bulk food was accessed every month (excluding December).
Agencies use the Food Link Program to not only supplement their food supply but also to redirect their budget. Agencies were asked about the ways they used the money saved by accessing the program. According to their feedback, agencies diverted their funds in a variety of ways, including investing in programming, food purchases, and purchasing supplies. Most agencies (33%) redirected funds to the improvement of their programming. The examples of improved programming include an increased invested in staff training, offering more programs or extend the scope of their programming. A number of agencies are able to extend their food budget or purchase supplies with the funds saved. There is a portion of the agencies (16%) that do not have a food budget and relied completely on Food Link for their food supply. For this segment, no money was saved to be redirected to other services.
GOALS The goals for the program are to be within 10%, plus or minus in the coming fiscal year. We are projecting for 2021/22, the pounds of food and supplies distributed through Food Link to be between 777,868 (min) and 951,950 (max). We are projecting for 2021/22 the money saved to be between $2,025,058 (min) and $2,475,071 (max).
With the onset of COVID-19 we were required to deny access to all external visitors which greatly impacted how the Food Link Program operated. Implementation of partners qualification criteria and COVID-19 restrictions resulted in the number of agency programs supported through Food Link being reduced from 215 to 37. As a result of this our goal for 2019/20 was not met.
SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES Supporting organizations by absorbing or diverting agencies’ food and supplies cost, allowing agencies to focus on meeting the needs of the community instead of sourcing food. Money saved can be relocated to sustain existing programs or launch new programs. Re-distributing excessive amounts of certain items to other agencies which results in reduced food waste.
LONG-TERM OUTCOMES Creating a hunger-free community.
FOOD SHARED
Below is a list of the food categories that are distributed.
- Vegetable and fruit: 23.26%
- Dairy: 21.62%
- Canned and prepared food: 21.46%
- Grains (bread and cereal): 7.09%
- Proteins (meat and eggs): 6.67%
- Drinks (coffee, tea, pop, water): 6.41%
- Baking and condiments: 6.40%
- Snacks: 5.88%
- Specialty (celiac, baby): 0.87%
Qualifications for Agencies
- Agencies are serving the food insecure population.
- Agencies must be registered as a charitable organization or fall under exemptions according to the CRA.
- A partnership with Food Link enhances the agencies’ ability to provide effective programming.
- They must not be duplicating services (hampers or pantries), or operating as a food bank.
- They must not charge fees for services.
- Their programming works with root causes of food insecurity.
- Agency programming provides capacity building for clients or community building.
- Demographics, scale of operations, or geography do not affect qualification.
“Saved money goes toward purchasing more food for the breakfast club.”
“Money saved by using Food Link is redistributed back into our programs, through improved services and development of new programs.”
2020/21
Number of programs* | 56 |
Pounds of food distributed** | 865,410 |
Money saved*** | $2,250,065 |
2019/20
Number of programs* | 215 |
Pounds of food distributed** | 1,614,984 |
Money saved*** | $4,198,958 |
2018/2019
Number of programs* | 233 |
Pounds of food distributed** | 2,473,094 |
Money saved*** | $6,430,044 |
* Number of agencies and programs receiving food and supplies
** Amount of food and supplies accessed by the Food Link agencies
*** Dollar value of food distributed.
LEARNINGS
We have participated in numerous program evaluation activities that have led to a number of learnings.
- We need to determine the definition of this program and its target population.
- Reviewing the program’s Performance Measurement Strategy highlighted the need to determining eligibility criteria for agencies.
- Reviewing the program’s Performance Measurement Strategy highlighted the importance of agency reporting to evaluate the Food Link program. Low response rates from agencies about their use of the program was determined as a key area of improvement. It was recommended that we streamline communication about the importance of reporting and reporting procedures. As a result of this communication, the agencies will understand their role to be actively responsible to provide reporting on their use of items received from Food Link.
The following changes were implemented based on these learnings.
- A definition for the Food Link program and target population was determined. This maintains consistent in messaging internally and externally and keeps the programs aligned with the our mission.
- We determined the eligibility criteria for Food Link agencies.
- We created and shared a document outlining the importance of reporting, the reporting schedule, steps on how to sign-up to receive the reporting invitation and the consequences of a reporting lapse.
- Due to new procedures being implemented, agency reporting compliance is approaching 100% by the end of 2020.