Healthy Food Donation Resources and Office Hours Recap
Washington Food Coalition Staff
Our October 14 th Office Hours brought together several food assistance programs from
around the state to discuss challenges and share strategies for strengthening relationships with retail food donation partners. Participants shared inspiring examples of relationship building from regular visits to local grocery stores to thank them in person for donations, to inviting them to visit the food bank to see it in action! We also discussed ongoing struggles, including receiving large quantities of items that are difficult to distribute like sheet cakes and candy or food that is no longer usable and must be composted or donated elsewhere, costing valuable food bank time and resources.
Tips for Building Stronger Retail Partnerships
Communicate your needs
Share your specific food needs based on the items requested most by your pantry shoppers and items prioritized in your nutrition policy.
Express impact
Thank your retail partner and highlight how many households your program serves or share a success story that demonstrates the difference their nutritious donations make.
Make the partnership mutually beneficial
Help the retailer understand how their nutritious donations support the community and contribute to their community impact goals.
Celebrate partners
Offer recognition of their partnership on your social media channels.
The WFC website offers resources to help you get started including a Sample Retail Donor Letter and Food Donation Inventory Template. Visit the Retail Partnership and Food Waste Prevention page under the Resources tab to explore these tools and more.
Center for Science in the Public Interest recently published a report on this very topic. The report provides information from interviews conducted with retail store staff and shares recommendations for how to increase nutritious food donations. What resources would help your program build stronger partnerships? Reach out to dana@wafoodcoalition.org if you would like to request a specific resource, if you have questions, or need support. We welcome your ideas!