Governance

Trust. Transparency. Leadership.

Meet our Board of Directors, read our annual reports and review our financial statements.

Board of Directors

Meet our experienced Board of Directors who are passionate about feeding hungry children across BC.

Geoff Pedlow

CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Geoff is a business lawyer at the Vancouver office of a major international law firm practicing in the areas of corporate and technology law. He advises entrepreneurs, start-ups and venture-backed technology companies, from ideation through business organization, capital raising and exit. In 2015 Geoff started attending Backpack Buddies events and eventually became more involved with the organization’s legal needs and governance. Geoff finds it immeasurably rewarding to play a part in filling the weekend hunger gap for children across the city.

Sylvie Singer

Board Member

Sylvie is a former partner at Deloitte LLP, where she led their National Charity Lottery practice.  She has over 20 years of experience working with Foundations and not-for-profit organizations in Canada and the United States. Sylvie brings experience in driving new innovative revenue sources and transforming brand and image, while managing risk within a strong governance structure. Sylvie is an Honourary Chair of the Princess Margaret Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer. She volunteers at homeless shelters for Out of the Cold programs, and is passionate about making a difference in our society.  Sylvie and her partner enjoy golfing and yoga.

Joanne Griffiths

Board Member

Joanne has devoted her life to the betterment of children’s lives. She has been involved in community projects most of her professional career and is a founding member of Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. In 2012, Joanne and her daughter, Emily-anne, discovered the need of children from inner-city schools for food on weekends. Joanne recruited the school that her children had attended in West Vancouver to help fundraise and pack Backpack Buddies’ first 20 bags of food in the spring of 2012. Joanne’s passion is her children and grandchildren. She enjoys spending time outside with them and walking her dog, Lucca, who has now become the Backpack Buddies mascot and can often be seen riding shotgun with Joanne in the Backpack Buddies’ truck.

HOW WE PUT YOUR GIFTS TO WORK

Financial Reports

Below you’ll find our most recent financial statements as well as some of the most frequently asked questions about our finances.

2022/23 Financial Statements

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2021/22 Financial Statements

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2020/21 Financial Statements

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2019/20 Financial Statements

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2018/19 Financial Statements

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2017/18 Financial Statements

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2016/17 Financial Statements

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2015/16 Financial Statements

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2014/15 Financial Statements

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DIG INTO OUR FINANCIALS

Financial FAQs

Want to learn more about our financials? Explore our FAQ below to discover how we approach fiscal responsibility, transparency and sustainability.

  1. We believe it is possible for every child in BC to have enough food to eat.
  2. We believe that when we promise to provide food for a child, they can count on us for as long as they need us.

These two principles guide the use of every dollar we raise. It means that we manage every dollar with great care. We invest in the health of our organization so that good people stay with us for the long term and we have a stable organization that families can count on to be here for years to come. It means that we invest in fundraising and the care of our donors so that we can continually grow to reach more and more children. We make sure to speak for children that cannot speak for themselves, encouraging governments, large companies, and our communities to support the most vulnerable children. It means we must keep reserve funds on hand so that we can keep our promise to children to support them, as long as they need us, no matter what unexpected financial storms arise. We make sure that every dollar provides food security for children in our program today and helps us reach more children across BC every year.

We make sure every dollar helps to get food into the hands of BC’s most vulnerable children.

  • 85% is directed to programs
  • 10% is directed to fundraising
  • 5% is directed to administration

* Based on our 2021/22 financial statements

Families, companies, foundations, and government have stepped up to help vulnerable children have enough to eat. We are grateful for all our generous supporters.

  • 42% of our funding comes from grants;
  • 57% of our funding comes from individuals and companies;
  • 1% of our funding comes from other income sources.

* Based on our 2021/22 financial statements

Children in the Backpack Buddies program live in food-insecure families – they do not have enough food to eat and struggle with the devastating and lifelong impacts of hunger and nutritional deprivation. When Backpack Buddies steps in, we offer our promise that we will be there for them, providing a source of food every weekend that they can count on as long as they need us. Keeping this promise means establishing financial stability in our organization to weather financial fluctuations that could otherwise threaten our ability to support children counting on us.

Our goal is to hold a cash reserve equivalent to 12 months of the cost of food for our program and 6 months of operating expenses, ensuring that children in our program will not be affected by fluctuations in donations from month to month.

Today, there are nearly 160,000 children in BC who are going hungry. One day, we hope to be able help them all.

About Backpack Buddies

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