Dear Network Partners,
In 2020, your tenacity, resilience and commitment to feeding our community resulted in 27.4 million meals distributed to people in need. We know our community is far from recovering from the impacts of COVID-19, and we will need to continue to sustain a heightened level of service to meet our neighbors in need in 2021.
Recently, we asked for your feedback about how to best support your food programs. Free food was the resounding priority. In 2020, nearly 80 percent of the food distributed by the Foodbank was distributed with no shared maintenance fees. This was unprecedented in our history, as the support provided by hunger-relief partners has always helped to sustain the operation of the Foodbank. At one time, partners’ fees were applied to nearly all products and they were the Foodbank’s primary source of operating revenue. Little by little, as the Foodbank has grown, we have been intentional in using our fundraising capacity to offer more products for free or at reduced costs, with the objective of freeing up your resources for frontline investments.
The community was generous in its support of our collective work in 2020, and we are in a position now to pass it along to you. Starting on February 1, 2021 the Foodbank will be granting support dollars directly to you in the form of a full waiver of product fees, including Amazing Values, for our hunger-relief partners until December 31, 2021. All products on our menu will be available for free to partners during this time, thus allowing you to invest your dollars in capacity, infrastructure and general support of your operations. We are excited about the transformational changes that can happen in our network as a result of this unprecedented opportunity. Let’s grow!
Practically not much will change in how the menu looks and functions. You will still see a cost associated with products on the menu – but the cost will be covered by grant dollars when you submit your order. All invoices and statements will show as a $0 cost. Product limits may be applied, as warranted, to ensure equitable access and distribution of food.
The Foodbank is committed to transparency to you, our donors and the community. We are deeply grateful for the support we have received, and we are committed to our mission of supporting you. Much of the funding we received in 2020 was in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and we will remain true to donor intentions, as we move into what is sure to be a lengthy recovery, by investing in free food for you, your capacity to distribute it, and the support infrastructure necessary for us to remain your source of food in the future.
The Foodbank is hosting a call for hunger-relief partners this Friday, February 5, from 11:30am – 12:30pm to discuss how we can leverage this moment of opportunity and investment and inspire best practices in our network. Please use this link to RSVP for this call. The Foodbank’s marketing department plans to connect with local media regarding this exciting new opportunity next week.
If you have questions about this waiver, please reach out to Katie Carver Reed at kcarver@acrfb.org and/or refer to this Q & A sheet.
Thank you for your passion and dedication to feeding our community.