Our Impact

We have a problem in Canada

In Canada, nearly 5 million people live in poverty – that’s approximately 2 million families.

Over half a million Canadian households live in social or affordable housing, with a waitlist of nearly 300,000. When people living in poverty do find housing, they often have no beds to sleep on, places to sit, desks to study at, or pots and pans to cook with.

Our research shows each person moving into an empty apartment requires a minimum of $4000 in available funds to turn empty housing into a furnished established home.

We make a difference

Since we were founded more than 20 years ago, with your help and generosity, we have given over 110,500 individuals and their families a new start with the gift of a furnished home, and an environment filled with stability, dignity and belonging.

When agency caseworkers were asked about the impact of Furniture Bank, the top social impacts for Furniture Bank beneficiary families were:

Restoring hope in the future (83%)
Improving self-esteem (78%)
Improving self-confidence (72%)
Creating family stability (72%)

Furniture Bank by the numbers:

*Outputs from 2019

total furniture items delivered

families helped in 2019

items repaired in our workshop

tonnes of furniture diverted from landfills

Read more about the difference we make in our Learning Centre.

Impact in Action

Most of our families do not have access to furniture due to circumstances beyond their control and if it wasn’t for Furniture Bank they would not be able to resettle back into the community. This is a critical service for the most vulnerable in our society creating conditions for the good mental and physical health of our families. This week Furniture Bank provided a sofa and sleep sets for a single mum and her son who previously had been sitting on garden chairs, and using clothing to nest on the floor.

- Case Worker Focus Group

With a furnished home my life has stability now. My self-confidence has grown and this has had a great impact in my professional and personal growth.

- Lucinda, Program Beneficiary

Our Social Return on Investment (SROI):

Furniture Bank is recognized as a high-impact charity with a 2019 SROI of $12.11:1 – for every $1 donated/invested into Furniture Bank, our charity creates $12.11 worth of benefits back to society.

Furniture Bank hired SiMPACT to do a social audit on our operations in 2017 and follow up in 2019. All outcomes evaluated by SiMPACT were based on data collected through stakeholders short, medium and long term impacts (12 months to three years).

Request a pick-up to give your furniture a new life with a family in need

Help us continue to help people like Sarah and create communities where we all belong

Read more about our social and environmental impact