How to get funding for food security work in your community

Support for food banks and local food organizations

APRIL 3, 2020: The Government of Canada has announced an investment of $100 million in support of food banks and local food organizations. This much-needed investment will allow food organizations to purchase food and seek the infrastructure required to respond to Covid-19.

If you are a food organization in need of support for food security work, here is where you can apply for assistance:

• Second Harvest: New funding program to help local community organizations from across the country to access either food, funding, or both.

• Community Food Centres Canada: The Good Food Access Fund helps organizations to provide emergency relief during Covid-19.

• Breakfast Club of Canada: Emergency fund to support children across the country during this crisis, especially high-needs neighbourhoods and Indigenous, remote and fly-in communities.

Emergency Community Support Fund

MAY 20, 2020: An additional $350 million has been announced by the Government of Canada to improve the ability of community organizations to serve vulnerable Canadians during the COVID-19 crisis. The investment will flow through national intermediaries to community organizations that serve vulnerable populations.

• The Canadian Red Cross is offering two programs to provide support for non-profit organizations:

  • Granting Program for Non-profits
  • Preventing Disease Transmission Training and Equipment

• United Way Centraide Canada is accepting applications from registered charities for the Emergency Community Support Fund.

• Community Foundations of Canada is accepting applications for qualified organizations.

For more information and training sessions on the emergency community support fund, visit the government of Canada's webpage.

Local Food Infrastructure Fund

The fund supports community-based, not-for-profit organizations to improve their food systems through investments in infrastructure that are directly related to addressing food insecurities and increasing the accessibility of healthy, nutritious, and ideally, local foods within their community. More information from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Surplus Food Rescue Program

This is a time-limited program to help manage and redirect existing surpluses to organizations addressing food insecurity and to avoid food waste. It will provide an opportunity for non-profit and for-profit organizations across the supply chain to bid on significant volumes of surplus products at the cost of production or less, processing them where necessary for longer shelf life and distributing to food serving agencies. More information from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Indigenous People’s Resilience Fund

The Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund (IPRF) is an Indigenous-led effort to respond to urgent community needs while taking a long-term view on building community resilience.

OTHER resources

For a full list of the support available to charitable organizations and non-profits, see Imagine Canada's list here.