Many food bank leaders arrive at the position because they have a background in fundraising or sometimes finance or banking. Healthcare and the military also mark the pathways of some leaders. For Andrea Williams, the newly named President of Oregon Food Bank, the throughline is her focus on racial and…
Posts published in “Advocacy”
It’s not an easy decision for a food bank to take the lead on a major research project. Such studies can be expensive, drawing resources away from the more immediate goal of distributing food. At D.C.-based Capital Area Food Bank, an investment in research is paying off in big ways,…
Our scan of the top 100 food banks (by revenue) uncovered a number of features food banks are adding to their websites to advance their advocacy efforts, including animated videos, advocacy-action point trackers, and surveys of the general public. These findings are part of our annual look at how food…
When Osvaldo Grimaldo joined Houston Food Bank just over a year ago as its inaugural Civic Engagement Specialist, he had his work cut out for him. In surveying agency partners and community members on their attitudes toward voting, Grimaldo uncovered a general lack of knowledge and resources. Of the more…
Linda Nageotte may have been named President and Chief Operating Officer of Feeding America last July, but in practice she is more like Convener in Chief. One of her mandates is to develop a strategic framework for the Feeding America network of 200 food banks and additional affiliated food banks,…
Second Harvest Heartland of Minnesota has had enough. Last year, the nation’s seventh-largest food bank recorded 7.5 million visits to its food pantries, up from 5.5 million the year before, and double the number of 2021. “It’s unsustainable,” said Allison O’Toole, the food bank’s CEO. It’s why the food bank…
It’s fair to say that running a food pantry, even as a volunteer, is a time-consuming job, making it difficult to plan beyond the immediate tasks at hand. But it’s also evident that a new spirit of collaboration between front-line emergency food providers is percolating. Sharing information, establishing a unified…
In a zoom meeting last week, three human rights groups offered their perspective on the charitable food banking system and its impact on the world’s food-insecure population. Citing a data point that is likely familiar to anyone working in hunger relief, the groups noted that food insecurity continues to persist…
There are many ways for food banks to be active in advocacy. Chief among them are regularly communicating with members of Congress and state governments about anti-hunger legislation, as well as engaging the media and partner organizations on policy issues. The Food Bank News Advocacy Honor Roll looks strictly at…