Liam Loftus, our Development Director, shares more details on our new approach to data reporting

As an organisation, we know that you, our incredible team of volunteers, appreciate learning about the impact of your work through our data. Historically, this data has been shared on a monthly basis. However, as our work as a food bank has changed significantly since this started, we’ve made a number of changes, which includes now publishing data on a quarterly basis. 

In our first profile piece for 2026, we spoke to Liam Loftus, our Development Director, who has been key to us reassessing how we publish our numbers. In his piece, Liam spoke about why the Foodbank made this change, what it will mean for those on low incomes who require our support and what you can expect from us in 2026.

Read on to find out more… 

Why has the Foodbank changed the way it publishes its data?

In order to answer this, we need to look back over the last five or six years. The majority of the work we did as an organisation was once supporting people on in crisis by providing emergency food via our Foodbank Welcome Centres. The majority of the members of our community were facing short term crisis, but since then, the landscape of hunger and hardship in Cambridge has changed dramatically. We’ve faced the pandemic and, subsequently, the cost of living has skyrocketed for everyone. This means that more people are requiring longer term support because of facing sustained hunger and hardship. In response to this, it was clear that we too had to evolve with the landscape. 

As you may already know, one of the ways we’ve adapted to the changing circumstances is through launching and growing our Fairbite Food Clubs. Through these Clubs, members who face long term hardship are provided with access to truly affordable food, and are offered a range of services to address some of the underlying causes that may be leading to them needing our support in the first place. 

The current economic climate has meant that we’ve had to adapt the types of support that we provide. Therefore, our data reporting must also change if we are to accurately tell our story and truly encompass the incredible impact that you are all making. This means that we’re not only going to be focusing on the critical support our Welcome Centres continue to provide, but also the services of our Fairbite Food Clubs. We’ll be providing an overview of the amount of hours that you are volunteering to support people facing hunger and, beyond the data, we will be elevating the voices of the people we serve so that everyone can hear first-hand about the impact your work has. By providing more comprehensive data, we hope that we can give you a better view of the bigger picture of the impact your work is having.

We are also changing the frequency that our data is reported on. Rather than monthly updates, we will shift to quarterly updates in order to provide a more detailed overview of our services and your impact. 

Furthermore, in reflection of the diversification of our service and the growing of our Fairbite Food Club network, we will be reporting on the number of meals we provide across the whole of the organisation, rather than solely the number of three-day emergency food parcels provided by our Foodbank Welcome Centres. Ultimately, what matters most is that  the right type of support is going to people facing hunger and hardship in Cambridge, and we think that number of meals we provide as an organisation is a better, more accurate representation of the work we all do. 

Does this mean the Foodbank is supporting less people facing hunger and hardship?

If you have volunteered with us for a while, it will likely feel that we’re seeing more people facing hardship, not less – it certainly feels that way for me. Our response will always be to ensure that we can meet that need, but there are different ways of achieving this successfully. 

Supporting people facing longer term need isn’t as simple as providing more emergency food, it’s about providing support that genuinely improves their situation. This can look like less food going out of our Welcome Centres, but in reality, it’s because there is more being provided at our Fairbite Food Clubs in reflection of the growing need for longer term support. This isn’t because we’re restricting any of the services we provide - it’s because we are getting better at identifying the type of support that each household needs, and ensuring they we provide it. 

In order for us to achieve our goal of ending the need for food banks, we have to provide people with the right help to no longer need our services. This doesn’t mean turning people away – it means working closer with them to truly understand and meet their needs.

What can we expect from the Foodbank in 2026?

As always, you can expect us to continue to support people on the lowest incomes who are facing hunger and hardship. Personally, I am clearer than ever before that nobody should be forced to use a food bank, and I know this belief is shared across our Foodbank. In reality, we know that for the foreseeable future, the support we provide will continue to be critical for many households in the city and we will be here to help our neighbours facing hardship when they need it. We will continue to work with our partners, such as those at Citizens Advice, to provide the people we support with help through the critical issues that they’re facing, such as finding and returning to work, health and mental health support, and hopefully support more people towards not having to turn to our Foodbank in the future. 

Most importantly, I want to reiterate how vital you, our volunteers, are in this process. Everything we do as an organisation hinges on your dedication to supporting our community, and none of the work we do would be possible without you. Your hard work is irreplaceable and the impact you are making is almost unquantifiable, although we are trying to evidence this through our new approach to data reporting! On behalf of all at Cambridge City Foodbank, thank you. We could not be more grateful for everything you do and please do reach out at any time should there be anything you’d like to discuss around our new approach to sharing data.