The Estonian Food Bank has been operating for 14 years. Over this time, the organization has grown significantly and consists of a parent organization, the Estonian Food Bank, along with regional food banks across Estonia. None of them could have expected to find themselves embroiled in scandals.

Eight regional food bank branches accuse the organization's CEO, Piet Boerefijn, of not fully distributing funds intended for the maintenance of these centers.

"It all started when eight food banks wrote to Piet asking for a meeting to discuss the current situation because, by the end of April, the procurement funds had not yet been received. Also, what about the future? Piet did not want to meet with us; he said it was unnecessary," said Maire Koppel, head of the NGO Independent Life.

Boerefijn denies any issues. He believes that two regional centers – the Valga Assistance Center and Independent Life – have started spreading misinformation, rallying other regions behind them.

"The money hasn't disappeared. All the money has been paid out or is still there, and we will pay it out to the last cent. There were two food banks that spread this false and misleading information. We terminated cooperation with them," said Boerefijn.

Boerefijn accuses the county centers of hindering the food bank's development and causing food safety problems. Although the conflict has been ongoing for years, the head of the parent organization decided to terminate contracts with the Tartu, Rakvere and Valga units abruptly. The final straw was when the Tartu-based NGO Independent Life filed an application with the Patent Office to determine whether the term "food bank" could be patented. Boerefijn interpreted this as an attempt to take over the brand.

"Trust was immediately lost, and our council decided to end cooperation with them right away," Boerefijn said.

NGO director Maire Koppel disagrees.

"We have not hindered development, our food safety is ensured, we have the necessary records. And the takeover... We never wanted to take over the Estonian Food Bank or the logo; we asked the Patent Office about the term 'food bank.' And that is something entirely different from the Estonian Food Bank," she said.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has also been drawn into the mix, as the regional food banks have turned to them. Since 2019, the ministry has allocated nearly €4.7 million to the Estonian Food Bank through procurements.

"All previous procurements have been won by the Estonian Food Bank, and we don't have experience with how other partners would handle it. But with the new procurement, we will give others a chance to try. A monopoly is not good in any field, so it would be beneficial to create competition," said Aire Johanson, the ministry's food aid advisor.

"We need more and clearer communication from our side. Maybe we need to meet more often. Currently, we meet twice a year for two days, but maybe we need to do it four times a year or every month. Perhaps that is our mistake," Boerefijn said.

Boerefijn does not believe the organization's operations will completely collapse. Many regional food banks, including the Central Estonia Social Center (Süda-Eesti Sotsiaalkeskus) operating in Järva County, have rallied behind Boerefijn.

"Because we are part of a larger system, it has been easier for us. For example, if there is little or no food from the store at some point, the large food bank buys it with donated money and brings it to us to distribute," said Tiina Larven, a board member of the nonprofit.

Scandals have done little to affect donations

Urmo Kübar, head of the Praxis think tank and a promoter of civil society with years of experience in various charitable organizations, says that such incidents leave a bitter taste for donors, but only in the short term. This is also reflected in last year's statistics, which showed problems with charitable organizations as well.

"In terms of individuals, there was actually a 16 percent decrease in the number of donors, but the drop in the total donated amount was only 5 percent. The decline has been primarily among smaller donations, which are presumably random, more emotional and smaller in amount. The remaining donors have actually given more," said Kübar.

However, over the past ten years, the number of donors in Estonia has doubled. The record growth occurred in 2022 with the addition of aid for Ukraine, when the amount donated to nonprofits in Estonia jumped from €56 million to €96 million. Kübar does not predict the same rapid increase over the next ten years.

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