Food Banks Finances in Canadian Provinces and Main Cities

Justification of research project

There is a crucial need to systematically gather financial information on food banks to accurately illustrate the existing situation and challenges faced by those organizations. Unfortunately, there is a lack of understanding about these nonprofit organizations in Canada. Currently, little research on the financial dimension of food banks and their respective foundations can be found in the literature. Literature focus on the operations and use. Hence the preparation of the series of research notes is an attempt to address this gap, to provide a wider map of the food banks philanthropic sector through a description of their financial situation.

Research question

The core question across the research notes series is: How can food banks in Canada be compared in financial terms?

Research purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the financial information of food banks in Canadian provinces and in main Canadian cities. A further mapping exercise will offer an overview of the situation and provide some answers to questions raised in the report.

Research approach

The work process is divided into two phases.

Phase I :

• Contextualizing and problematizing the research question: the framework
• Identification of food banks with business numbers by province
• Data collection on organizations using the T3010 form and their website

Phase II :

• Analytical synthesis of findings and learning elements: Individual PARG reports for each province