What Leftovers Foundation does

Leftovers Foundation is a Calgary-headquartered Canadian registered charity (Charitable #782983522 RR0001) founded in 2012 by Lourdes Juan that operates volunteer-powered food rescue programs across Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The organization's core operations consist of two programs: Rescue Food, which uses a proprietary mobile application (available on iOS and Android) to coordinate volunteer drivers who collect surplus edible food from commercial donors such as grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and event venues and deliver it to nonprofit service agencies; and Home Harvest, which coordinates the rescue of excess produce from residential backyard gardens and fruit trees through the Knead web-based grower portal. As of 2025, the foundation operates city programs in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Regina, and Saskatoon, supported by dedicated city coordinators and a centralized headquarters in Edmonton.

The underlying technology is operational rather than intelligence-driven: the Rescue Food app functions as a volunteer coordination tool for route selection, pickup scheduling, and delivery confirmation, while the Knead Portal serves as a self-service interface for Home Harvest growers. Supporting infrastructure includes the SkipTheDepot bottle-donation integration and a Rafflebox-powered 50/50 raffle program. The organization reports 2025 operational impact of 1,132,265 pounds of food rescued across 9,395 volunteer routes, delivering $4,086,711 in food cost savings to 220 service agencies and preventing 713 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Leftovers Foundation is funded entirely through donations, grants, and fundraising events, with no products or services sold commercially. The marketing claim that every $10 donated generates $73 of food value for agency partners indicates an asset-light model where the volunteer base and donated food supply serve as the primary inputs. Donor revenue is sourced from individual giving, monthly donor programs, institutional funders (including RBC Foundation, Peter Gilgan Foundation, and Winnipeg Foundation), and community events. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, relying on social media engagement, the WastED webinar series, and partnerships with local organizations such as Compost Winnipeg and Italian Centre Shop to drive donor and volunteer acquisition.

Name

Leftovers Foundation

Legal name

Leftovers Foundation

Website

https://rescuefood.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Leftovers Foundation is a Canadian nonprofit founded in 2012 that runs volunteer-powered food rescue programs across seven cities, connecting surplus food donors with 220 nonprofit service agencies via a proprietary mobile app and the Home Harvest residential produce rescue program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Rescue Services

NAICS

Community Food Services (624210)

SIC

Refuse Systems (4953)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Assistance & Food Banks (BPAGAEAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Food Waste Reduction & Diversion Services (Donation, Animal Feed, Source Reduction Programs) (EUAIAEAH), Donation Pickup & Reuse Hauling (HSAKALAI)

Keywords

• Food rescue services
• Food waste reduction
• Surplus food redistribution
• Community food programs
• Nonprofit food charity

Headquarters

HQ city

Calgary

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: Primary revenue from individual donations, monthly giving programs, and corporate/foundation grants. Charitable organization with donation-based funding model.
2. Fundraising Events: Revenue from 50/50 raffles, annual FUN-raiser events, and community fundraising activities.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Leftovers Foundation operates volunteer-powered food rescue programs that redirect surplus edible food from commercial donors (grocers, restaurants, bakeries, caterers) and residential gardens to nonprofit service agencies serving vulnerable community members. The Rescue Food program coordinates volunteer pickups and deliveries through a dedicated mobile app, while the Home Harvest program collects excess produce from backyard gardens and fruit trees across western Canada.

Product overview

Leftovers Foundation operates a unified food rescue ecosystem consisting of two core programs: Rescue Food (commercial food rescue connecting surplus food donors with service agencies via a dedicated mobile app) and Home Harvest (residential produce rescue from backyard gardens). The Leftovers Rescue Food App serves as the primary volunteer coordination platform, available on iOS and Android. Supporting infrastructure includes the Knead Portal web application for Home Harvest growers, the SkipTheDepot bottle donation partnership, and 50/50 raffle fundraising programs through Rafflebox. The organization runs city-specific Rescue Food programs in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Lethbridge, Red Deer, with recent expansion to Regina and Saskatoon.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Rescue Food: Main program that connects food donors with service agencies through a volunteer-based app to rescue surplus food and redirect it to those in need.
• Home Harvest

Products and services

• Rescue Food Program Core food rescue program that connects commercial food donors with service agencies through volunteer pickups and deliveries, redirecting surplus edible food that would otherwise go to landfill.
• Home Harvest Program Community backyard harvest program that rescues and redirects excess produce from residential gardens and fruit trees, organizing volunteers to pick and deliver fresh local food to service agencies.
• Rescue Food Mobile App Mobile application for volunteer coordination that allows volunteers to view and sign up for food rescue routes, pick up food donations from donors, and deliver them to service agencies.
• Knead Portal (Grower Web Portal) Web-based portal for Home Harvest growers to manage their produce donations, set up harvest requests, and coordinate volunteer pickups for their backyard gardens and fruit trees.
• 50/50 Raffle Program Charitable raffle program operated through Rafflebox that offers participants a chance to win cash prizes while supporting Leftovers' Rescue Food operations. Proceeds fund food rescue programs in Alberta.

Quantifiable outcome

• $73 worth of food generated for every $10 donated
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SkipTheDepotcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSkipTheDepot partnership allows bottle donors to directly donate their refund to Leftovers. Users download SkipTheDepot app, book a free pickup, and donate their bottle refunds directly to Leftovers Foundation.
• Red River Co-opcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClose partnership with Red River Co-op in Winnipeg. Co-op is a major source of food donations and supports the program through ongoing collaboration. Working closely with Red River Co-op, Rescue Food Winnipeg redirects over 50,000 lbs of food per month.
• Compost WinnipegminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for pumpkin rescue events. Collaborated on 4th annual Pumpkin Drop event where Leftovers rescued edible pumpkins while Compost Winnipeg collected remainder for composting.
• Italian Centre ShopcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFamily-owned grocery store with locations in Edmonton, Sherwood Park, and Calgary. Donates day-old bread, panini, pastries, and compromised produce. Partnership began when City Coordinator reached out to establish food rescue routes.
• iHuman Youth SocietyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinnipeg service agency receiving rescued food donations through the Rescue Food program.
• TrellisminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWinnipeg service agency receiving rescued food donations through the Rescue Food program.
• Catholic Social Services - Morning Star ProgramminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerService agency in Alberta receiving rescued food donations through the Rescue Food program.
• YMCA of LethbridgeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerService agency partner in Lethbridge receiving rescued food donations through the Rescue Food program.
• Kin by We Are All KinminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial initiative where volunteers serve coffee at events. Kin volunteers recruited through Leftovers partnership with YMCA. Volunteer shifts at community events.
• Circular Innovation CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for pilot project offering both food rescue and composting services to businesses in Sherwood Park and Westlock, launched in cooperation with Strathcona County.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Daily Bread Food Bank: Toronto-based food bank serving as a major recipient/distributor of rescued food in Ontario. Comparable service-agency-side operations, though primarily focused on food banking rather than volunteer-driven rescue logistics.
• Moisson Montréal: Quebec's largest food bank with food-rescue operations. Operates the same dual mission of food waste reduction and food insecurity relief, though in a different region than Leftovers' Western Canada footprint.

Broad incumbents

• Feeding America: Largest US hunger-relief organization with extensive food-rescue and food-banking operations. Comparable dual mission of food waste reduction and food insecurity relief, with significantly larger scale and corporate partnerships.
• Food Banks Canada: National umbrella organization coordinating Canada's regional food banks and food rescue. Comparable mission of reducing food waste and feeding communities, with broader scope (food banking plus rescue) and established government/corporate relationships.
• Too Good To Go: Global surplus-meal marketplace connecting consumers with restaurants and stores. Comparable food-waste-reduction mission via a technology platform, but operates as a commercial B2C marketplace rather than a nonprofit volunteer model.

Others

• SkipTheDepot: Bottle-return donation platform partnered with Leftovers. Functions as an enabling/fundraising infrastructure provider rather than a direct competitor, channeling consumer recycling refunds to charities.

Direct peers

• Olio: UK-based food-sharing app connecting neighbors and businesses to share surplus food. Closely comparable technology-mediated volunteer/donor logistics model, though consumer-facing rather than focused on service-agency redistribution.
• FoodCloud: Ireland-based food rescue nonprofit using technology to connect retailers with charities. Highly comparable tech-enabled food rescue model with strong donor-network and volunteer-coordination parallels.
• Rescuing Leftover Cuisine: US-based volunteer-powered food rescue organization. Highly comparable mission and operating model (volunteers picking up surplus food from businesses and delivering to nonprofits), though operating in a different geography.
• Second Harvest: Canada's largest food rescue organization, operating national-scale food rescue logistics across multiple provinces. Direct peer in the food-rescue/redistribution space with overlapping donor and service-agency relationships and substantially larger operational scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/LeftoversFdn
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCyMfB889vt3vS4-YoWp_U-Q
• Facebookfacebook.com/leftoversfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/leftovers-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/leftoversfoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leftovers Foundation