FoodCloud
Winner — Good Governance Awards 2024
Category 6: for organisations with an annual turnover of between €10 million and €50 million
Governance supporting a decade of impact
FoodCloud was recognised at the Good Governance Awards 2024 for its 2023 Annual Report, an important milestone in a year that also marked the organisation’s 10th anniversary.
Over its first decade, FoodCloud grew from an Irish social enterprise into an organisation working with food businesses, community groups and partners internationally. By the end of 2023, almost 110,000 tonnes of surplus food had been redistributed to more than 10,000 community partners in Ireland and abroad, equivalent to almost 260 million meals.
That scale of impact is reflected throughout its award winning report. In 2023 alone, FoodCloud redistributed 27,885 tonnes of surplus food, equivalent to 66.4 million meals, while avoiding an estimated 89,232 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions. In Ireland, 685 community groups were supported during the year.
A clear strategic direction
FoodCloud’s governance is closely connected to its longer term ambitions. Its 2022 to 2025 strategic framework is organised around five strategic pillars, combining the continued delivery and development of its existing services with longer term transformation.
These pillars provide a structure through which FoodCloud reports its progress and connects individual programmes and achievements to its 2030 goal of creating a more equitable, inclusive and circular food system.
Financial resilience and transparency
The report is also open about FoodCloud’s financial position. It records a €765,935 surplus in 2023, following a deficit of €213,000 in 2022, and explains the factors contributing to that change.
FoodCloud describes transparent and effective financial management and governance, accurate impact reporting and sustainable operations as important parts of its ambition to be a values led non profit.
The organisation also retained its Triple Lock status from Charities Institute Ireland in 2023, reflecting its commitment to governance, transparent financial reporting and ethical fundraising.
Governance that enables impact
FoodCloud’s story demonstrates how governance and impact can reinforce one another. Its 2023 Annual Report does not simply present the scale of food redistributed. It connects those results to strategy, financial stewardship, organisational development and the wider social and environmental challenge FoodCloud exists to address.
Its recognition at the 2024 Good Governance Awards demonstrates the value of communicating that work clearly and transparently.