How To Get Food Donated For Nonprofit

Safe Food Handling Practices

Training

Although training is not a requirement for preparing food donations, food safety classes explain the food safety precautions required with feeding large groups. Many local health agencies, WSU Cooperative Extension offices, and food industry associations give short classes on food safety.

Personnel

A knowledgeable group leader with food safety training and a Washington State Food Worker Card, if possible, should be selected to organize the food preparation efforts. Children under 10 years old should only handle wrapped foods, raw produce, and raw dry food staples to limit the potential for food safety errors. Food workers who are ill should not handle or prepare food.

Handwashing

Proper handwashing facilities and supplies must be convenient for all food handlers.

All food handlers should wash their hands before beginning work, and after:

• Going to the restroom.
• Coughing or sneezing into their hands.
• Handling raw meat.
• Hands become dirty.

Preventing Bare Hand Contact

To prevent the spread of germs, it is important to keep bare hands from touching foods that will not be cooked or washed before being eaten. Utensils or gloves can be used to prevent bare hand contact. Utensils need to be cleaned and sanitized between uses.

Food Storage

Food Transportation

Potentially Hazardous Foods

Certain foods, called potentially hazardous foods, let bacteria grow quickly. It is important to keep these foods at safe temperatures to prevent bacteria from growing.

Cooking Temperatures

Best Buys Team Volunteer Grant Program

When groups of two or more Best Buy Mobile employees collectively provide volunteer services to a nonprofit organization, they can earn up to $500 annually for that nonprofit.

When groups of five or more employees at all other Best Buy locations volunteer together, they can earn $1,000 awards for the nonprofit.

Best Practices To Ask For Donations

Tips for Your Fundraising Ask

• Address the Appeal

  Include your donors name in the fundraising appeal to add a personal touch.

• Get to the Point

  Your letter shouldnt be more than a page and you should get to your ask within the first two paragraphs.

• Be Specific

  Tell your donors exactly where their donations will go to help them visualize how much their support helps.

• Give Options

  Provide your donors with multiple ways to donate so they can select their preferred method.

Date

City, State ZIP

Dear ,

My name is and I am . I am looking to raise to help pay for .

Just a small donation of can help me .

Your donation will go toward .

Thank you in advance for your contribution. You have no idea how much it means to me to have your support.

Here are the ways you can make a donation:

• Make a donation online at .
• Send a check in the pre-stamped envelope Ive included .
• Come to my fundraising event on at

Thank you again!

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Avoid The Rich People Trap

Many nonprofit folks want to go find the rich people in town to ask them to give.

Big mistake.

If youre looking for rich people, that tells me you care more about the money than the donor, and my friend, that is BACKWARD!

If you want to be wildly successful at fundraising and fully fund your budget, you need to value your donors as partners.

Its like this: the goose is more valuable than the golden eggs she lays.

Get it?

Your nonprofits donors are valuable for the donations they make now and all the future ones theyll make, too.

So, instead of looking for rich people, look for people who LOVE your organizations mission and want to see you be successful.

Theyll support you more enthusiastically, anyway.

Heres some truth about rich people:

Just because people have money doesnt mean theyll give it to you. Their wealth isnt any indication of their generosity.

So, getting the donation is more about telling a compelling story than targeting people with deep pockets.

Chasing rich people will likely result in disappointment and frustration.

Hotels And Resorts Donation Requests

Best Western Best Western focuses on three areas of philanthropy: poverty relief, education, and disaster relief. They work with networks like World Vision and Kiva to help families and kids in underprivileged countries and communities around the world.

Choice Hotels Choice brand hotels have partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to help young people across the country enhance their local communities. They also distribute financial matching gifts via the Choice Hotels International Foundation.

Disney Last year alone, Disney donated more than $330 million to nonprofits that assist children and their families. Disney demonstrates their support through cash grants, in-kind donations, and public service announcements.

Hilton Worldwide Nonprofits can submit their grant applications to Hiltons Contributions Review Committee. The application requires basic information, a project budget and timeline, and details about the projects expected achievements.

Host Hotels Host Hotels allows their employees to choose which charity they would like to donate to each and every month. They also support over 125 community investments that are also selected by their employees.

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental accepts donation requests from nonprofits that focus on environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, and disaster relief. The IHG Foundation also helps local communities and focuses on sustainability.

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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.

Walmarts Volunteer Grant Program

Through Walmarts Volunteerism Always Pays program, the company offers individual and team grants for employees who volunteer at nonprofits.

After Walmart employees volunteer 25 hours with an organization, Walmart provides a volunteer grant of $250.

Groups of Walmart employees who volunteer together or participate in fundraising events are eligible to request VAP grants between $500 and $5,000.

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Jc Penneys Volunteer Grant Program

The JC Penney Award for Community Service honors current and retired employees who volunteer at nonprofits.

Grant amounts vary depending on the time spent volunteering, but employees can request anywhere from $50 to $500 to go toward the nonprofit they volunteer with.

Employees must volunteer for a minimum of 15 hours before they are eligible to apply for a volunteer grant.

What Is An In

In-kind donations are non-monetary donations made to nonprofit organizations. These nontraditional donations include the transfer of any asset, usually goods or services, and can be contributed by individuals or other organizations and companies.

When your nonprofit receives monetary donations, you proceed to spend that funding to run your organization and your programming. For instance, your organization might include in your budget $10,000 to pay for lawyer services throughout the year. An in-kind donation from the lawyer, where they provide their services for free, would free up that $10,000 to be reallocated to other aspects of your organization.

As weve touched on, in-kind donations generally take two different forms:

• Goods. The donation of a car, as discussed in the introduction, is an example of a good that may be contributed to a nonprofit in kind. These assets are physical materials that nonprofits can use to enhance their strategy in some way.
• Services. Professional services can be given in kind to nonprofits that would otherwise need to pay for that same service. For instance, accounting services, lawyer services, graphic design, or web development can all be given in-kind by a generous professional.

Another type of in-kind donation to keep in mind is when an organization pays for a service on behalf of your organization. For example, an individual might decide to pay the legal expenses for your organization for an entire year, accepting the bill on your behalf.

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Set Up A Donation Page

This might seem obvious, but your first step toward collecting donations is to create an online donation page.

Last year alone, online giving grew by 12.1%. More donors than ever are looking for quick, easy, and secure ways to give online.

This is where your Donorbox account comes in handy. When you sign up for a free Donorbox account, the first thing you do is create a customized, branded donation form that you can easily embed into your website without any knowledge of coding needed.

Pro tip: You should make your donation page as simple as possible for your donors, so think about what kind of information you absolutely have to have from donors and what kind of information would be nice to have . Decide how you can make the most streamlined form possible to keep your potential donors from getting burned out before they complete their donation.

Donorboxs donation forms are designed to both look great on your website and be easily navigated by your donors. Heres an example of how Code for America integrates their Donorbox donation form into their website:

Remember that in the mind of the donor, your organizations donation form represents how your organization operates. If giving is a smooth, seamless experience, your donors will think your organization is top-notch and worthy of their gift.

Places To Donate Food

There are food recipient organizations across the country. The following sites offer tools to help donors find nearby food banks, pantries, soup kitchens and shelters that may accept wholesome, excess food.

• Feeding America is a national network of food banks, individuals, national offices, and corporate and government partners working to combat hunger in the U.S. Use the Find Your Local Food Bank tool to locate food programs by state or zip code.
• Ample Harvest is a nationwide effort to educate, enable, and encourage gardeners to donate extra produce to local food pantries. Use their Find a Pantry tool to donate food you grow or buy.
• The Homeless Shelter Directory is a crowdsourced listing for people who want to find and donate food and/or supplies to their local shelter.

Contact Us:

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Liberty Globals Annual Giving Campaign

Liberty Globals In Givers campaign raises money for the Movember Foundation. Over 400 employees raised $75,000 in a variety of creative ways for this month-long campaign that supports mens health research.

Liberty Global matched the donation to total a gift of $150,000.

State Streets Fundraising Match Program

CollectMore is State Streets matching gift program for fundraising. Through CollectMore, State Street will match their employees fulfilled pledges up to $5,000 annually.

CollectMore is part of a three-pronged program for financial giving, which also includes GiveMore, their matching gift program, and DoMore, their volunteer grant program.

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Where To Record In

As soon as you receive your in-kind donations, estimate the value and immediately record the gifts. These should be initially recorded in your chart of accounts. From this centralized location, your nonprofit can pull further reports and related revenue information to draw conclusions from. These reports may include the statement of financial position, statement of cash flows, statement of functional expense, and other key accounting documents.

Create a separate revenue account as a part of your chart of accounts where you can record the in-kind gift. Then, make sure the credit and debit columns of the account net to zero.

If a lawyer donates $1,000 worth of services, your books would be listed as:

• Debit in kind revenue $1,000

These should net to zero because the contribution technically doesnt impact the amount of money located in your nonprofits bank account. Your cash doesnt change, but it does make the cash in your account more flexible as you dont need to pay for the donated item or service.

Seek Board Member Assistance

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Asking For Donations With Emails

The Basics

Emails are one of the most common ways for nonprofits to ask donors for contributions.

Most nonprofits send out emails regularly and send donation appeals alongside organizational updates and event invitations.

Emails are read on laptops, desktops, and mobile devices. This means that your nonprofit has the chance to reach donors nearly everywhere. Learn how to ask for donations with emails!

Why It’s Important

Sending out emails is also efficient and cost-effective, enabling your organization to reach more people at a lower cost than other methods.

Getting Started

The end of the calendar year sees a huge spike in charitable giving.

In fact, 30% of all annual donations are made in December alone!

The end of the year is the perfect time for nonprofits to start ramping up their fundraising efforts by asking for donations.

A Scavenger Hunt Walk

A Scavenger Hunt Walk is a walkathon where students follow a list of clues to find hidden objects or complete challenges. This could involve solving puzzles, finding specific items, or taking photos of certain landmarks. A scavenger hunt walk is a fun and interactive way to engage students and encourage teamwork and problem-solving skills.

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Ask For Donations At Community Events

Are you hosting any upcoming events? A 5K, an auction, a community learning event? These are great opportunities to ask for donations. Heres why.

• Your event has a registration form and/or a participation fee. If your event already requires the participants to fill out a form or pay a fee, its a great idea to ask for donations on the registration form. People are more likely to give when they already have their wallets out or are already providing their information.
• Your event is beneficial to the community youre serving. If there are donors at your event and they can clearly see the value your organization is creating, theyll be all the more inspired to give.
• Your event promotes excitement around giving. If youre hosting a fun event with fundraising in mind, find ways to make giving exciting! At an auction, cheer whenever someone makes a bid. This both congratulates them for amping up the price of what could be a significant donation to your organization and encourages others to partake in the fun.

If someone is at your event, chances are theyre interested in your organizations work. Use that momentum to get more donations and hopefully establish long-lasting relationships with new donors.

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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Enterprise Holdings Foundation Donates $60000 To The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank For Food And Nutrition Assistance In Los Angeles County

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 30, 2022 The Enterprise Holdings Foundation has donated $60,000 to the LA Regional Food Bank to fight hunger and nutrition insecurity in local communities all over LA County. The Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Enterprise Holdings, which operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo brands through its integrated global network of independent regional subsidiaries and franchises.

This donation comes at a time when many families in Los Angeles County are struggling to make ends meet due to the high costs of everyday necessities. Higher costs of food, energy and other necessities exacerbate an affordability problem that predates inflation in LA County. The cost of housing has always been high, and many people in LA County struggle to access healthy food on a regular basis.

The financial support weve received over the years from Enterprise has a tremendous impact on our work, said Michael Flood, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. This years gift will allow the Food Bank to provide up to 240,000 meals for families and individuals facing food and nutrition insecurity.

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!

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