For the fifth year in a row, the Interfaith Food Bank in Lethbridge has been named as a Top 10 Impact Food Bank.
The list is compiled by Charity Intelligence, which reviews and rates over 850 Canadian charities for potential donors.
The Top 10 designation follows Interfaith being named a five-star Top 100 Charity for the third straight year last month. The Lethbridge operation is one of some 5,500 hunger relief organizations across Canada, with Alberta home to over 100 food banks alone.
The analysis conducted by Charity Intelligence measures how each dollar donated helps the surrounding community and makes a positive change.
Interfaith’s executive director Danielle McIntyre says she is “extremely proud” of the work being done at the food bank.
“It really speaks to the fact that our food bank offers a ‘hand up’ and not just a ‘handout’, and so, that end impact on the end user is really something that donors can count on when they are contributing to our cause,” she tells My Lethbridge Now.
McIntyre adds food banks have experienced very high demand as of late, with usage across the country doubling since 2019.
“Across the country, food insecurity is at the highest levels ever recorded, with food bank numbers being at historic numbers – 2.2 million Canadians are having to access food banks every month,” she states.
“It took decades to hit one million and just over five years to double that, so that speaks to the vast need that is out there and the changing faces of the people who are having to ask for help from food banks.”
McIntyre adds, “We’re seeing [that] one in four local families accessing food banks have jobs” and, “There once was a day where you might be able to pinpoint who would need a food bank, but that just isn’t the case anymore as everyone is having a harder time with the affordability crisis right now”.
TOP 10 LIST
The Top 10 Impact Food Bank list includes the 10 food banks in Canada that have been researched and demonstrated the highest value created per dollar spent.
As for the star rating system, those are based on an assessment of:
- Donor reporting;
- Financial transparency;
- Funding needs;
- Cents to the cause; and
- Demonstrated impact.
The charities rated with five stars, including Interfaith, are listed in the 2025 100 Highest Rated Charities report.
Charity Intelligence says the Interfaith Food Bank is financially transparent, has reasonable overhead costs, and an above average results reporting grade. The report on Interfaith shows that 90 cents of every dollar donated is available for direct client programs.
“Especially when people are having to decide where their donation dollars will go, it’s really nice to be included in that list of trusted charities. People can know that that dollar is going to get stretched to the farthest that it can possibly go,” McIntyre says.
“They are going to know that that dollar is also going to impact the people who are coming to access food bank services.”
Interfaith has been helping the community since 1989. More information on the Lethbridge-based operation is available on the food bank’s website.
