What would you like to know?
Option 1: Organization. Select this option if you are a representative of a company or an organization who is looking to start a company-wide or a department fundraiser.
Option 2: Individual Fundraiser. Select this option if you are starting a personal fundraiser. This could be a birthday fundraiser, a fundraiser in memory of a loved one, or a fundraiser in lieu of wedding gifts. The options are limitless!
Option 3: Start a New Team. Select this option if you are setting up a friendly competition within your company or between organizations.
For example, your company has three floors, and you want to set up a competition between the floors; each floor will get a dedicated page to track their progress, in addition to an overall company page where you can see the result of the three floors combined.
This option would also work on a group of friends. You and your friends might want to start a friendly competition to see who can raise the most money within a certain time frame. Winner gets eternal bragging rights!
Email us at virtualfooddrives@foodbank.bc.ca if you want to brainstorm fundraising ideas!
Option 4: Join a Team. Select this option if you know that someone from your company or organization has already set up a "teams" page. For example, if you are on the fourth floor (see option 3 for context), and would like to join the company-wide competition after the other three floors are set up, you can select this option and join the competition.
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB) Virtual Food Drive allows individuals and groups of all kinds to raise money through an online food drive. It's a very efficient way to maximize your fundraising efforts. It's also easy and fun! Start one with your co-workers at the office, as a family project or with a group of friends as passionate about our cause as you are.
Maybe you're having a birthday or wedding and would like your guests to donate in lieu of gifts. You can use a Virtual Food Drive to encourage donations to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
Holding a Virtual Food Drive lets you or your group get involved in providing access to healthy food for our clients in Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and the North Shore in an easy, immediate and highly effective way.
For every dollar raised, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank can DOUBLE your donation because of our strong buying power and relationships with farmers and retailers!
Below are some benefits of running a Virtual Food Drive event:
Anyone can host a Virtual Food Drive. You can register as an individual, start your own team or join an existing team. Your event can be customized to meet the needs of your organization, your school/ office group, your family, or yourself. Click here to start your Virtual Food Drive today.
Below are some benefits of running a Virtual Food Drive event:
The Virtual Food Drive website gets "refreshed" every year on September 1st. If your Virtual Food Drive page was set up prior to September 2024, your page may have been archived and we suggest you to host a new Virtual Food Drive for this year here.
Your username and password from before for accessing your page remains valid. If you cannot remember your username or password, recover your username first, then recover your password here. Note you have to use the same email you've used previously to recover your username and password.
Or just contact us. We will be happy to help: virtualfooddrive@foodbank.bc.ca.
It's important that you make your own personal donation to kick start your campaign. Lead by example, the amount of the first donation will set the bar for others to follow. Others generally feel more comfortable donating if they see that someone else has.
We value all donations, but if your gift is generous, your coworkers, friends and family will likely be generous with their donation as well!
+ Add a video – This can be linked on your personal Virtual Food Drive page or your Teams page.
+ Make a personal donation to kick off your fundraiser – It's important that you make your own personal donation to kick start your campaign. Lead by example, the amount of the first donation will set the bar for others to follow. Others generally feel more comfortable donating if they see that someone else has.
+ Ask – Make a personal appeal to your friends and family. Use the tools inside the Participant Center to send emails or just share your page link via your own personal email.
+ Make sure donors share their support – In your requests, ask donors to click the 'Share' button on your personal page. When donors share their donation, about 20% of the time it results in a new donation of $15 on average!
+ Get a match – Ask your employer if they would make a generous 'matching gift' of the total amount or portion raised.
+ Leverage the reach of social media – Post your campaign on all your social media platforms - share your Virtual Food Drive on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and any other social media you use.
+ Include everyone in your campaign – Be proud to raise funds for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and invite everyone to help. Include friends, family, work colleagues, teammates, club members – anyone. Most people understand how important the work of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank is, and some may even know someone who has used a food bank before. You may be surprised at who will donate to support you.
+ Follow up – It is easy for people to overlook emails. They are probably not ignoring you. Send at least one follow-up email and repost on your social media to keep your campaign in front of followers.
+ Stewardship – Thanking your donors in a timely manner will show them how much you appreciate their support to your fundraiser. They might be likely to make a second gift as well!
The Virtual Food Drive is a fun and engaging tool, and an ideal way to engage your family, friends and colleagues in supporting the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. The funds raised are used towards purchasing healthy and nutritious food, or our area of greatest need, towards supporting our 15,000 clients and 150 Agency Partners weekly. We can often double the value of each dollar donated because of our purchasing power with our industry partners and local farmers.
You can physically bring your cheques or mail your cheques to the GVFB Burnaby head office. Cash can only be accepted in person at the GVFB Burnaby head office. Please DO NOT mail your cash donations. Cheque and cash donations can be added to your Virtual Food Drive total.
Please email virtualfooddrives@foodbank.bc.ca to request an “Offline Donation Form” to be attached to your cheque or cash donations to ensure your donation is attributed to the correct fundraiser.
Please fill out the “Offline Donation Form” fully and accurately to ensure that tax receipts can be sent to the correct person and address. Please note that for all cheques and cash donations, the minimum donation amount eligible for a tax receipt is $20. For online donations, there is no minimum donation amount to be eligible for a tax receipt.
Please bring or send cheques to:
Greater Vancouver Food Bank - Virtual Food Drive
8345 Winston St, Burnaby, BC V5A 2H3
Payable to: Greater Vancouver Food Bank
You can bring your cash donations to the same address. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm except for statutory holidays. We encourage you to call our Development Line at 236.992.1899 or email at development@foodbank.bc.ca before doing so to ensure that someone is available in office to collect your donation.
Yes! If you want to simple make a donation and not host a fundraiser, you can do so here: https://foodbank.bc.ca/donations/donate-now/
Yes! Share your support with a stylish cap or shirt. Our online store offers a variety of GVFB-branded items designed to help volunteers, team members, and everyone else share their love of the GVFB.
We're happy to help! Please contact the development team at 604-968-6433 or email us at virtualfooddrive@foodbank.bc.ca We are here to help and want you to be as successful as possible in your fundraising efforts. Thank you!
When you donate, the anonymous check box is at the bottom of the donation form where you fill in your name, address and credit card information.
We do currently allow tours at our Burnaby warehouse facility, located at 8345 Winston Street. If your VFD group would like to come and tour the GVFB, please reach out to our Digital Fundraising Officer, Andre, at andrep@foodbank.bc.ca.
To request a tour, please confirm the following:
Please note that the GVFB cannot guarantee that our staff or facility will be available for your requested date. We are also unable to accommodate tours at short notice or on days when we are distributing from our Burnaby location. Thank you for your understanding.
Please note, that all donations must be made directly through the VFD platform.
The Greater Vancouver Food Banks will never reach out to request a direct donation or private financial information for a Virtual Food Drive.
If have questions or concerns regarding a request, please contact virtualfooddrive@foodbank.bc.ca.