The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is seeking to fund a state policy campaign to further strengthen the sustainability and public health impact of FTFB programs.
Donor Name: Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/12/2022
Size of the Grant: up to $30,000
Grant Duration: 6 months
Details:
This current funding opportunity is intended to support the planning stages of a policy campaign. CSPI intends to provide additional funds to support the implementation of the campaign in 2023.
FTFB describes the movement of food, either through donation or purchase, directly from farmers to the CFS. FTFB programs provide financial support to farmers to aid in the harvesting, packaging, or transportation of donated agricultural products or direct purchase of crops. The agricultural products provided to the CFS, which are mostly fruits and vegetables, are a highly nutritious source of food. Moreover, fourteen million tons of crops go unharvested annually. The FTFB supply chain is therefore a key opportunity to fight hunger and increase nutritious donations while cutting food waste.
Food banks work hard to provide nutritious food, with many adopting policies for what they will and will not accept. Yet, too often, food donated to the charitable food system (CFS) does not align with client preferences for healthy, culturally relevant items. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is mobilizing their supporters, coalition partners, and communities to support policies, like Farm-to-Food Bank (FTFB), to increase the amount of nutritious food available to those in need.
CSPI has identified the policy priority of establishing state funding for a FTFB program. This campaign is most likely to succeed in a state that already has an established FTFB program but is not supported by state funding. However, we also invite submissions for other FTFB expansion policy campaigns, as long as they include justification for their importance.
Planning activities proposed for the grant period can include, but are not limited to:
- Community engagement and building stakeholder support
- Developing communications strategy and materials
- Developing a legislative strategy and implementation plan
Key Application Priorities
- They are prioritizing applications from the following states, however any state may apply and should provide justification for the need: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma. These states were chosen because they have a FTFB program that is not currently supported by state funding and have the highest rates of food insecurity, number of farms with Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color (BIPOC) producers, and/or highest volumes of unharvested crops.
- They are open to funding campaigns that are at various stages of the policy process, including early-stage campaigns focused on community engagement (such as focus groups or key informant interviews), policy formulation and feedback, advocacy for policy passage, and/or policy implementation. For existing campaigns, applications should describe the community engagement process that has taken place to date and the ways in which the campaign goals and tactics are community-driven and -informed.
- Applications should be from diverse organizations who are either representative of the population for which a policy is focused or are directly partnering with individuals and or community organizations representing the population. If an application is from a non representative organization, they recommend that a portion of your grant support organizations and/or individuals from communities most impacted by health disparities.
- They are focusing on policies that have the greatest impact to support statewide FTFB, and as such will not accept city- or county-level campaigns for this particular funding opportunity.
- This funding is focused on policy change; therefore, they are unable to fund direct service programs, pilots, and capital projects.
Funding Information
Applications can be submitted for up to $30,000 in total costs for a duration of up to 6 months. Grant funds cannot support lobbying activities.
Who can apply?
To apply for grants offered by CSPI, organizations must be located in the United States or U.S. Territory, AND
- Be a nonprofit with a 501(c)(3) public charity or other tax-exempt designation from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), OR
- Be fiscally sponsored by a nonprofit as described above
If you are an emerging, grassroots, and/or community-based organization that does not yet have tax-exempt status or a fiscal sponsor, please reach out to us as they may have future grant opportunities available to you, or there may be other ways that you can partner with us.
For more information, visit CSPI.
