Why Your Company Should Donate Food And Other Faqs
Why should my company donate food?
If you are unable to donate goods, monetary gifts are always welcome and support our food purchasing and distributions of nutritious foods to our community.
What if Im an individual looking to donate food?
We recommend you host a virtual food drive to make an immediate difference to end hunger in our community. Its an easy and fun way to provide food where its needed most. If you would prefer to hold a traditional food drive, learn more about drop-off locations and needed items.
DONOR SPOTLIGHT
Universals Donation Request Program
Universal primarily donates theme park tickets to qualified nonprofits who educate youth, strengthen the community, and fall under Universals focus areas. Preference is given to nonprofits based in Central Florida.
All applications for theme park tickets must be made online.
Important Guidelines For Food Donors
- Never Plan A Donation As An Excuse To Clean Out Your Kitchen If you are donating food to charity, just to clean your pantry, then please stay away from donation programs. Food charity is not about giving unnecessary or expired food items. Rather its all about helping the poor, who dont have anything to eat & survive.
- First Understand Which Foods Are Suitable For Donation Home-made foods, Food prepared with hygienic ingredients, leftover unused food, fresh surplus food items, packaged food within expiry date, and distressed food items are suitable for donation to charity. You should never donate food items such as canned foods, perishable foods, unpasteurized milk, food in soiled containers, and foods with off odor.
- Always Follow Safe Food Handling Practices It is true food charity for the poor is making a positive change. Individuals from different parts of the world are stepping forward to eradicate the Hunger crisis. However, the donors need to maintain safe food handling practices for ensuring successful food donations. Cooking temperature, dishwashing, handwashing, food storage, food packaging & transportation, cross-contamination and allergies are some of the essential practices to consider when planning to donate food to charity.
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Community Donations Mass Retailers
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What is Amazon Smile?
is one of the most impactful philanthropic initiatives launched by any company over the last decade. Its a way to help nearly any nonprofit raise money from the shopping that your organizations staff are doing or the shopping that parents, donors, or volunteers are already doing.
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Why do we love it?
Its a win-win for everyone!
Through the program, .5% of an individuals purchases on smile.amazon.com will be donated to a nonprofit of an individuals choosing.
If youre an individual, link your Amazon account to a nonprofit of your choosing. If youre a nonprofit, make sure youre signed up and then add information to your website.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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How do you get started?
Go to to get started. Its quick, easy, and youll continue to get the same low prices and great service from Amazon that youve always gotten while helping raise funds for a good cause.
Liberty Globals Corporate Responsibility Program
Liberty Global supports its communities through a number of different programs, from promoting a digital society and protecting children to assisting local charities and foundations.
They also provide free or subsidized broadband services to their community partners, such as charities and public service providers.
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Publixs Matching Gift Program
Publix matches current and retired employees donations to public or accredited private school, college, or university.
Donations ranging from $25 to $5,000 are eligible to be matched at a 1:1 ratio.
Employees have to have worked at Publix for at least one year before they are eligible to apply for a matching gift.
Disneys Corporate Philanthropy Program
Disney is committed to strengthening communities by providing hope, happiness, and comfort to kids and families who need it most.
Through their corporate giving programs, Disney brings positive, lasting change to communities around the world.
Just last year, Disney gave over $315 million to nonprofits that help children and families.
They also donate books to children across the globe, and gave over 23 million books in the past.
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Outerwalls Volunteer Grant Program
Outerwall, which is composed of Coinstar, Redbox, and ecoATM, has a volunteer grant program for its employees that will donate up to $600 per employee.
Employees must volunteer for at least 10 hours and can be rewarded for volunteering for up to 40 hours.
Employees should register their requests electronically.
Our Specifications For Food Donations
At SecondBite, were serious about food safety, and so we require the following conditions to be met for us to receive food donations:
- Care has been taken when handling, storing and packing food
- High Risk Food is stored in clean, covered food-grade containers
- High risk foods such as: meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products and small goods, or foods which contain these ingredients, such as sandwiches, quiches and prepared salads, are kept below 5°C or above 60°C and out of the Temperature Danger Zone
- The food is to be collected by SecondBite in the shortest possible time
- High-risk food left in the Temperature Danger Zone for more than 4 hours has been discarded
- Everyone involved in handling donated food has maintained the highest standard of personal hygiene and cleanliness
- The food container is labelled with the appropriate information required: product name, date prepared, use by date and where possible ingredients
- The food will still be fit for human consumption 48 hours after collection
- Use By dates must have at least 2 days life remaining
- Best Before dates must have at least 2 days life remaining for refrigerated items
- Best Before dates may be up to 3 months past for wet goods , and 4-6 months for dry goods providing the food is still fit for consumption and has not been exposed to any potential contamination i.e. excess moisture.
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Whole Foods Corporate Philanthropy Program
Whole Foods Market helps the communities where their stores are located by donating gift cards or products to nearby nonprofits.
Additionally, Whole Foods has 5% Days four times a year on these designated days, 5% of net sales are donated to local nonprofit organizations who have applied.
Kohls Team Volunteer Grant Program
Through Kohls Associates in Action Program, Kohls provides grants to nonprofits when groups of employees volunteer together.
A minimum of five employees from one Kohls location must volunteer for no less than three consecutive hours in a single day to receive a $500 Associates in Action grant.
Since the inception of Kohls team volunteer grant program in 2001, theyve donated $79 million thanks to 834,000 associate volunteers.
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What Cannot Be Donated
- Food past its Use By date
- Refrigerated food past its Best Before date
- Dry goods that are 6 months past the Best Before date
- Food that is damaged or perished to an extent that affects its reasonable use
- Leaking or unsealed products
- Cracked or broken eggs
- Food with visible mould or contamination
- Refrigerated items not stored and maintained at less than 5°C
- Frozen items not stored and maintained at less than minus 15°C
- Food that has been left in a bain-marie
- Foods that have been served to the public on a buffet and/or unwrapped and exposed.
Nestl Isn’t All About Giving
In 2019, Nestlé placed among the top 20 wealthiest companies in the world with a net profit over $10 billion, according to . Nestlé’s astronomical wealth is due to the company’s status as one of the most influential brands that’s overtaken the food and beverage marketplace, thus creating a monopolistic empire that squanders competition and, in turn, causes massive inequities across the industry.
Despite the company’s huge earnings, some of the powers at be at Nestlé didn’t feel all that compelled to give to charity. In 2005, head of Nestle S.A. and chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe insisted that companies should not feel obligated to give back to the communities they inhabit, remarking, “What the hell have we taken away from society by being a successful company that employs people?”
Nevertheless, the company website boasts community-based philanthropic programs Nestlé sponsors or supports, such as the GirlSports and the Adopt-A-School programs. The company’s Community Care Campaign states that Nestlé employees donated $1.2 million last year, which Nestlé matched. Additionally, through Feeding America, the company donated “154 million pounds of food gave $700,000 through cause marketing programs.” Even including the money Nestlé employees contributed, though, this donation accounts for just a tiny fraction of the company’s profits.
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Good Spread Peanut Butter
This delicious peanut butter company is tackling Severe Acute Malnutrition, which kills more children than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Their solution? MANAits a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, made from milk and peanut butter, and fortified with vitamins to fight malnutrition. Once administered on a regular basis, 96% of children are cured in less than six weeks. For every jar you buy, the company sends a packet of MANA to a community in need.
Find A Savannah Georgia Charity That Will Pick Up Your Clothing Donations & Other Household Items Donations
Donate clothes and other household items in Savannah, Georgia. Charities like Old Savannah City Mission will pick up your donations for free and leave you a tax deduction receipt.
Donationtown.org allows you to schedule online appointments for Savannah, Georgia donation pick ups. It has never been so convenient to make charitable donations in Savannah, GA until now.
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Foods Suitable For Donation
Home-Prepared Foods
DONATED FOOD DISTRIBUTING ORGANIZATIONS are not allowed to accept or serve most types of homeprepared foods. However, homemade baked goods that do not need refrigeration to remain safe may be received from DONORS.
Commercially Packaged Foods Not Needing Refrigeration
The donation of commercially canned, boxed, and otherwise packaged foods is encouraged.
Fresh Produce Donations
Food donations may include fresh produce, including home-grown fruits and vegetables. Fresh produce should be protected from contamination and receive final preparation, such as washing and cutting, in a DONOR KITCHEN or licensed kitchen.
Food Prepared in a DONOR KITCHEN
Except for baked goods , DONATED FOOD DISTRIBUTING ORGANIZATIONS may not accept foods prepared in a home kitchen. Instead, foods for donation should be prepared in either a DONOR KITCHEN or a commercial food establishment, such as a restaurant.
A DONOR KITCHEN is a publicly available kitchen in a faith-based organization, community center, or other site. The DONOR KITCHEN does not need to have a health permit, but must have basic facilities such as adequate handwashing, dishwashing, refrigeration, and cooking equipment. It must have a safe water supply, be protected from weather and animals, and be cleaned before food preparation starts.
Uninspected Meat Donations
Food Donation by Licensed Food Establishments
Food Donation by Food Processors
Distressed Foods
Pepsico May Not Only Be Ungenerous But Disingenuous
Pepsi and Coke: the yin and yang of sodas. Sadly, these beverage giants don’t quite balance each other out in terms of charitable giving their branding strategies and philanthropic foundations yield the similar manifestations of corporate greed. They even participated in matching corruption schemes to fight public health initiatives to encourage Americans to drink less soda while simultaneously publicizing the millions of dollars they’ve donated to health-oriented charities, The New York Times reported.
According to the PepsiCo website, the sum total of its 2019 Global Citizenship donations and the company’s foundation disbursements comes out to $144.1 million. If this seems like a considerable amount of money it’s because, well, it is. Nevertheless, the company made approximately $37 billion in profits in 2019, meaning those seemingly huge donations are actually worth only 0.39 percent of the amount of money Pepsi made last year, which is certainly nothing to brag about.
Add to that Pepsi’s questionable tax strategies, as investigated by Julia Lurie for Mother Jones, and it becomes obvious that Pepsi is not as generous as the company would like you to believe.
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Restaurants And Food Donation Requests
Albertsons If a nonprofit wants to ask Albertsons for a donation, they must make the donation request at least 8 weeks before the event or fundraising need. Nonprofits must provide details about their organization as well as the fundraising event.
Burger King While each Burger King franchise owner is in charge of handling their restaurants specific donation requests, the company as a whole has a Benefit Night program where 20% of all sales from a particular night will go toward a nonprofit or school.
Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A donates surplus food to local shelters and soup kitchen through their Chick-fil-A Shared Table program. They also help victims and first responders during and after natural disasters. Individual restaurants also host fundraising and benefit nights.
Coca Cola All donation requests for Coca Cola must be submitted online. Nonprofits can apply year-round, and there is no dollar limitation for these community grants. Nonprofits can also request product donations from Coca Cola.
Darden Restaurants Since the mid 1990s, Darden Restaurant Group has donated more than $82 million in grants to nonprofit organizations.
Dunkin Donuts Dunkin DonutsThe Joy In Childhood Foundation helps sick and hungry children across the country. They have donated over $11 million to hundreds of national and local charities all across the United States.
Make an online donation request right now!
Jc Penney Cares Program
JC Penney Cares is an affiliated nonprofit entity that is committed to helping kids succeed by keeping them safe, healthy, and engaged beyond the classroom.
They form partnerships with organizations and distribute grants to those nonprofits.
They also offer cause marketing opportunities to select organizations.
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Walt Disney Company Donates $25000 To Philabundance During Dunkin’ Holiday Food Drive Telethon
On this Giving Tuesday, we once again are proud to help our neighbors in need during the annual 6abc Dunkin’ Holiday Food Drive.
PHILADELPHIA — On this Giving Tuesday, we once again are proud to help our neighbors in need during the annual 6abc Dunkin’ Holiday Food Drive.
All day long, we have been asking for your donations to Philabundance, the largest hunger-relief organization in the Delaware Valley.
6abc President and General Manager Bernie Prazenica presented a $25,000 donation to Philabundance CEO Loree Jones on behalf of the Walt Disney Company.
to learn more about how you can help.
Chevrons Volunteer Grant Program
Through Chevrons Grants for Good Volunteer Grant Program, the company provides funding to nonprofits where employees and retirees volunteer on a regular basis.
There are two tiers for individuals who volunteer regularly:
- 20 volunteer hours = $500 grants
- 40 volunteer hours = $1,000 grants
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Dardens Matching Gift Program
Darden Restaurant Group, which is composed of restaurants like Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie Vs, and Yard House, offers a generous matching gift program to full-time and part-time employees.
Donations ranging from $100 to $10,000 are eligible to be matched at a 1:1 ratio. Darden only matches gifts to k-12 schools, colleges, and universities.
Does Jbs Usa Have A Giving Spirit
As the largest meat processing company in the world, JBS USA is certainly no stranger to philanthropic gestures. “We recognize the social responsibility of being a major employer,” claims the “Social Responsibility” section on the JBS website. Upon closer look, though, many of the community-oriented charity projects appear to not actually be funded by JBS. Instead, the onus is on JBS employees to raise money, ostensibly by designing creative fundraising campaigns to encourage donations from community members.
Per the JBS 2017 Executive Report, the company strives “to provide a balance between providing financial support and in-person volunteer hours that match community requests.” Additionally, the company revealed, “We do not set companywide giving or volunteering targets instead, each JBS USA facility has an annual budget dedicated to supporting local initiatives and communities.”
Later in the report, the company delineates each large charitable contribution it has made, which includes $12.5 million that went toward a “strategic, long-term partnership” with Colorado State University, an investment deal which will likely result in more money for JBS.
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Choice Hotels Volunteer Grant Program
Choice Hotels volunteer grant program, Giving Time, makes donations to the nonprofits where corporate employees volunteer their time.
Employees must volunteer for a minimum of 10 hours before they can apply for a volunteer grant.
The specific grant amount varies based on the number of hours volunteered in a calendar year.
Dicks Sporting Goods Foundation
The Dicks Sporting Goods Foundation recently announced a $25 million multiyear commitment to address the growing issue of underfunded youth athletic programs in America.
The Foundation matches community donations on a 1:1 basis and will award up to $2 million annually through its Sports Matter program to financially burdened youth sports teams.
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Teradatas Annual Giving Campaign
During Teradatas open enrollment period for benefits, the company promotes Teradatas Annual Employee Giving Campaign. During this campaign, the company encourages employees to give back to nonprofit organizations of their choosing.
The company will set up reoccurring payroll deductions and match employee donations, but only during this specific period of time.
Starbucks Donates Only A Small Portion Of Its Profits To Charity
You may want to put your latte down for this one. Starbucks has been praised for its “corporate activism,” but not so much for its charitable contributions. In 2015, the coffee giant donated $29 million in cash to various organizations around the world, but this was a year when the company’s net revenue topped out at over $19 billion. As such, those multimillion-dollar donations only represented an itty bitty part of Starbucks’ annual profits.
After the 2018 controversy involving a Starbucks employee’s racial discrimination, Starbucks began focusing on philanthropy that promoted racial equality. Unfortunately, these contributions were even far less generous than their previous donations. In June 2020, Starbucks pledged to donate $1 million to organizations that promote racial equality. Though this may seem like an impressive sum of money, Starbucks, as the leading coffee retailer in the world, made over $26 billion in sales with a gross income of $5.7 billion in 2019.
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