Founded in 1992, Breakfast for Learning (BFL) was Canada’s first public foundation that supports school-based nutrition programs – there are now three major charities across Canada in this field.  BFL's website states that as of 2015,  one in six children in Canada face hunger and one third of food bank users are children. BFL recognizes that kids cannot reach their full potential when they are not properly nourished. To give these kids the best chance of success in life, BFL gives grants to schools across Canada that need funding for breakfast, lunch and snack nutrition programs.

President’s Choice Children’s Charity (PCCC) is Breakfast for Learning’s national premier sponsor – BFL’s annual report states that PCCC provided over $4.25 million in support of BFL’s programs in F2015. This represents over 70% of total Canadian donations for the year.

In 2017, President's Choice Children's Charity acquired BFL in an effort to feed more Canadian children. 

In F2015, Breakfast for Learning’s grants program accounted for 83% of program spending. BFL funded 2,174 programs across Canada, which reached 271,663 children. BFL’s annual report states that the funded programs cumulatively served 44,710,251 meals within the year. Based on total operating costs of $5.7m in F2015, BFL spent $21 on each child reached.

Breakfast for Learning stays in contact with the schools whose programs receive funding so that it can track the impact these nutrition programs have on school performance. BFL-funded programs reported a 79% improvement in school attendance and an 89% improvement in academic performance within the 2014-2015 school year.

Breakfast for Learning also reports spending $862k in F2015 for charitable programs, which accounted for 17% of program spending for the year. BFL’s website does not elaborate on activities related to this program.

Breakfast for Learning is a Big-Cap charity that received $5.7m in donations in F2015. Administrative costs are 6% of revenues and fundraising costs are 4% of donations, meaning that BFL spent $0.10 of every donated dollar on overhead costs. This falls well within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Breakfast for Learning’s funding reserves of $3.2m can cover only 62% of annual program costs, indicating a funding need.

This charity report is an update that is currently being reviewed by Breakfast for Learning. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 22, 2016 by Katie Khodawandi.