Notes on the Expansion of Food Banks in the U.S.
The process of "onboarding" -- bringing new employees into an organization -- at food banks is a hot topic because of the rapid growth of food banks to meet the growing need in communities. Despite the increased size of food banks and expansion of workforce, some organizations have actually reduced the size of their workforce, such as the Fresno food bank and Feeding America, the national organization of over 200 food banks.
Organizations commit themselves to large capital campaigns to gather resouerces - financial, in-kind, and volunteer time – to fund new buildings. The Houston Food Bank conducted a $55 million capital campaign to fund their new building which came online in August 2011. Harvesters raised $11 million in 2004 capital campaign to move into their new 200,000 square foot facility at that time.
Food banks have developed sophisticated organizations – not unlike for-profit companies – that have clear divisions of labor, namely, operations, accounting, fund development (sales/revenue), programs, information technology, acquisition, transportation, to name a few.
Food banks have adapted to the long-term, chronic nature of hunger in the US by recruiting talented professionals and managers, right out of college or transitioning from other companies. Warehouse workers – forklift operators and order pickers – responsible for receiving and processing food endure a significant amount of repetitive work.
Amazing revelation that the UK hospitals have no payment department for patients because there’s no payment required in a national health care system. The administrative overhead at some food banks – those employees working on fund development or accounting – increases the costs of delivering services.
Providing increased access to government commodity programs or funds reduces the need for handling funds, but government requirements have some level of paperwork for after-school feeding programs like Kids Café. The food bank has a requirement for each pantry and soup kitchen to report the volume of activity and demographics of participants. The agencies are required to report their activity each month in order to participate in popular programs like the twice-annual holiday meat distribution before Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Some food banks have eliminated the “handling fee” to increase access to food for agencies. These food banks owe this abililty to large financial donations in these communities, such as Santa Clara/San Mateo food bank, which serves the area in Silicon Valley in California.
Organizations commit themselves to large capital campaigns to gather resouerces - financial, in-kind, and volunteer time – to fund new buildings. The Houston Food Bank conducted a $55 million capital campaign to fund their new building which came online in August 2011. Harvesters raised $11 million in 2004 capital campaign to move into their new 200,000 square foot facility at that time.
Food banks have developed sophisticated organizations – not unlike for-profit companies – that have clear divisions of labor, namely, operations, accounting, fund development (sales/revenue), programs, information technology, acquisition, transportation, to name a few.
Food banks have adapted to the long-term, chronic nature of hunger in the US by recruiting talented professionals and managers, right out of college or transitioning from other companies. Warehouse workers – forklift operators and order pickers – responsible for receiving and processing food endure a significant amount of repetitive work.
Amazing revelation that the UK hospitals have no payment department for patients because there’s no payment required in a national health care system. The administrative overhead at some food banks – those employees working on fund development or accounting – increases the costs of delivering services.
Providing increased access to government commodity programs or funds reduces the need for handling funds, but government requirements have some level of paperwork for after-school feeding programs like Kids Café. The food bank has a requirement for each pantry and soup kitchen to report the volume of activity and demographics of participants. The agencies are required to report their activity each month in order to participate in popular programs like the twice-annual holiday meat distribution before Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Some food banks have eliminated the “handling fee” to increase access to food for agencies. These food banks owe this abililty to large financial donations in these communities, such as Santa Clara/San Mateo food bank, which serves the area in Silicon Valley in California.
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