The Interfaith Food Bank has been recognized on Charity Intelligence's list of the Top 100 Charities in Canada for 2023. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Interfaith Food Bank named 5-Star, Top 100 Charity

Oct 18, 2023 | 5:49 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A non-profit organization in Lethbridge has been recognized as one of the country’s very best.

Charity Intelligence (CI) has released its list of the Top 100 Rated Charities for 2023.

CI said it looks “behind the gloss” of massive fundraising campaigns to examine factors like a charity’s results, costs, and impact within the communities they serve.

“Charity Intelligence’s Top 100 list is just this necessary homework,” said CI. “These are charities we have analysed and vetted so you can give with greater confidence. Out of all of Canada’s largest charities, these Top 100 highest-rated charities are the elite.”

The Interfaith Food Bank is a newcomer to the ranking this year. According to CI, the organization is financially transparent, has reasonable overhead costs and an above-average results-reporting grade.

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Interfaith Food Bank Executive Director Danielle McIntyre said it is in honour for the non-profit to be recognized in this way.

“It speaks to the quality of our accountability to donors as well as the impact to the families we serve,” said McIntyre. “This is not an award we solicited, we were found and researched by Charity Intelligence and they came to this conclusion through their analysis.”

The food bank received $1.3 million in monetary donations in 2022, as well as $2.4 million worth of food, or 1,023,827 pounds of food.

The analysis found that approximately 82 cents from every dollar donated went to programming, while 10 cents covered administrative costs and nine cents covered the costs of fundraising. CI said this falls within their “reasonable” range for overhead spending.

In total, the Interfaith Food Bank served 19,609 clients last year and distributed 8,123 hampers.

Approximately 56 per cent of their clientele were women, 42 per cent were children, 20 per cent were Indigenous, 14 per cent were new Canadians, and four per cent were seniors.

The Interfaith Food Bank was also praised for a couple of other initiatives they run.

The group started the Food Share program during the COVID-19 pandemic, which gives food and other supplies to urban and rural community programs and food banks. Partners under the Food Share program received a combined 336,326 pounds of food in 2022.

They also run cooking classes out of the Interfaith Chinook Country Kitchen, which aim to teach participants how to cook healthy meals on a limited budget. Last year, 1,114 participants took part in 177 adult sessions, while 447 youths were a part of 100 classes.

Other Alberta charities that were recognized by CI include the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society in Calgary, Calgary Humane Society, Alberta Wilderness Association, Calgary Food Bank, Calgary Homeless Foundation, Big Brother Big Sisters of Calgary & Area, Discovery House, Fear is Not Love Society, RESET Society of Calgary, United Way of Alberta Capital Region, and the University of Calgary.

Although it is not based in Alberta, the list also included the Nature Conservancy of Canada, whose work entails several land conservation initiatives in southern Alberta.

The full list can be accessed on the Charity Intelligence website.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now

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