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Executive Summary
Westside Community Food Pantry is a nonprofit working to make sure families in the west side of our city have enough food. We run a food pantry open two evenings a week, plus a monthly mobile food stop at three apartment complexes, giving out healthy food on a schedule people can count on. Our food comes from donations, a regional food bank, grocery stores, local farms, and food we buy to fill the gaps.
Too many households near us regularly run short of food, and the help that exists does not reach everyone. It may be open only when people are at work, be too far away, or run out before everyone is served. Our program focuses on being dependable and easy to reach: a set schedule, at places and times people can get to, with a welcoming process and connections to other help.
In Year 1 we plan to serve about 150 households a month, about 600 different households over the year. Our Year 1 budget is about $141,000, growing to about $259,000 by Year 5 as we serve more people and grow from one operations staff member to four. Each year's budget is planned to balance.
We are asking the Hartwell Foundation for $20,000, as part of the $111,000 in grants we need for Year 1. The other $30,000 in Year 1 comes from donations, which we plan to grow to about $85,000 a year by Year 5. Grant money pays for food we buy to fill gaps in donations, the staff who run distribution, and the office work needed to report results honestly.
We will measure how many households we serve, how many pounds of food we give out, how often families return, and whether families say the food lasted until their next visit. We will report results to our funders every six months.
Company Description
Westside Community Food Pantry is a nonprofit organization in Oregon. A 501(c)(3) public charity
Our mission. To make sure no family in our neighborhood goes without enough healthy food.
How we started and what we have done. We began in 2023 as a church food closet open one Saturday a month. Since then we have served more than 400 families, and 25 volunteers now help every month.
What we do:
- Give out food on a set schedule, at a church fellowship hall, Tuesdays 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 9 to 11 a.m.
- Connect families to other help, like SNAP (food stamps), WIC, help with utility bills, health clinics and job programs, through our partner agencies.
Our partners. (your regional food bank), where we have been a partner agency since (year); a grocery store on Main Street that donates extra bread and produce weekly; and a nearby community farm that gives us summer vegetables.
Food safety. Volunteers and staff follow food safety rules for storing food, keeping it at safe temperatures, and handling it, as our food bank partner and local health rules require.
How we are run. A volunteer Board of Directors (a small group of community members who oversee the organization) meets regularly, approves the budget, reviews the finances and oversees the Executive Director.
Problem & Opportunity
Why this program is needed.
Some families in the west side of our city do not always have enough healthy food. Going without enough food hurts people's health, makes it harder for children to learn, and forces hard choices between food and rent.
Gaps in the help that exists now:
1. Hours. Some food programs are open only when working families are at their jobs.
2. Distance. Families without a car may not be able to get to the food programs that exist.
3. Running out. Some programs run out of food before everyone is served.
4. Healthy food. Donated food often has too little fresh fruit, vegetables, milk and protein.
What we have seen ourselves. Our Saturday line regularly starts an hour before we open, and last winter we ran out of food before serving everyone on four distribution days.
Who we serve first. Families with children, older adults on fixed incomes, people with disabilities, and working families who earn too little to cover food and rent.
Products & Services
How the program works.
1. A schedule people can count on. We give out food every week at a church fellowship hall, Tuesdays 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 9 to 11 a.m., with evening or weekend hours for working families.
2. Healthy food from three sources: donations (from people, food drives and grocery stores), our regional food bank (free or low cost), and food we buy to fill gaps, especially fresh fruit and vegetables, protein and milk. Buying food costs about $35,000 in Year 1, rising about 7% a year.
3. A respectful experience. Families choose their own food from our shelves, like a small grocery store (called "client choice")., a simple sign-up, and friendly volunteers trained to treat everyone with respect.
4. Connection to other help. We help families sign up for SNAP and WIC and connect them to help with bills, health care and jobs through our partners.
How we will measure results. We will count households served and pounds of food given out at every distribution, track how much of the food is fresh, and ask families twice a year whether the food lasted until their next visit. Our goals for Year 1: serve 150 households a month; give out 120,000 pounds of food; make at least 30% of it fresh produce, milk or protein; and have 75% of families say the food lasted until their next visit.
Market Analysis
Where we work and who we serve.
We serve families in the west side of our city, especially three neighborhoods and two senior apartment buildings closest to our pantry.
How we know families need this. We served 412 different households last year, and referrals from two schools and a health clinic grow every month.
How many we will reach. In Year 1, about 150 households a month, about 600 different households over the year. As we grow from one operations staff member to four over five years and add food partners, we expect to serve more families each year.
Competitive Landscape
Other food programs, and how we work with them.
- The regional food bank supplies food to many local programs like ours. We have been a partner agency of (your regional food bank) since (year). Our job is getting food the "last mile" to families in our neighborhoods.
- Other food pantries and meal programs. We share schedules and referrals so families can find help on more days of the week and so we do not compete for the same volunteers and donors.
- Government food programs like SNAP, WIC and school meals are very important. We help families sign up for them instead of trying to replace them.
What makes us different: evening hours for working parents, a mobile stop at senior apartment buildings, and a focus on fresh produce.
Marketing & Sales Strategy
How we reach families and build support.
Reaching families:
- Referrals from schools, health clinics, social service agencies, churches and housing programs.
- Flyers in English and Spanish at libraries, laundromats, apartment buildings and community centers.
- Word of mouth from families we already serve.
- Clear information about hours, places and what to bring, on our website and social media.
Getting food:
- Our regional food bank partnership.
- Grocery stores that donate extra food.
- Local farms and gardens for fresh produce in season.
- Food drives with schools, employers and churches.
Volunteers. Volunteers sort, pack, give out food and drive. We find them through local churches, high school service clubs and nearby employers, and train them in food safety and respectful service.
Raising money beyond grants. Donations are planned at about $30,000 in Year 1, growing to about $85,000 by Year 5, through a yearly giving campaign, business sponsors, a fundraising event and online giving. Raising more of our own money means we depend less on any one grant.
Operations Plan
How the program runs.
Distribution days. Volunteers arrive at 3:30 p.m. to set up. Families sign in starting at 5 and shop with a volunteer helper until 7. Cleanup and record-keeping are done by 7:45.
Storage. Food is stored at a 600-square-foot room at a partner church with shelving, two refrigerators and a chest freezer. In Year 1 we buy about $6,000 in equipment (shelving, a pallet jack, and coolers or a freezer), then about $2,000 to $2,500 a year to replace worn items.
How food moves:
1. Order from the food bank and schedule grocery store pick-ups.
2. Receive and sort food, and check quality and dates.
3. Store it at safe temperatures, with daily temperature checks written down.
4. Set up shelves or pack boxes.
5. Give out food, with a sign-in record.
Food safety. Temperature logs, date checks, food safety training for volunteers, and following our food bank's rules and local health guidance.
Records. Households served, visits and pounds of food are recorded every distribution day. Family information is kept private and shared with funders only as totals, never by name.
Staff. One operations staff member in Year 1, growing to two in Years 2 and 3, three in Year 4 and four in Year 5, working with volunteers.
Office work. Bookkeeping, insurance and reporting cost about $13,000 in Year 1.
Management & Organization
Who leads the organization.
Grace Williams, Executive Director.
The Executive Director leads the organization, raises money and manages grants, builds partnerships, oversees the finances and reports to the Board. Planned salary: $56,000 a year.
Operations and distribution staff. Order food and schedule pick-ups, manage storage, run distribution days, schedule volunteers and keep records. One position in Year 1, growing to four by Year 5, at a planned salary of $34,000 each.
Volunteers. About 25 regular volunteers help sort, pack, give out food and drive.
Board of Directors. A five-member board including Robert Fisher, who brings nonprofit finance experience.
Money management. Grant money is tracked separately so we can show each funder exactly how their money was spent. An outside accountant reviews our books every year.
Milestones Narrative
Our goals and how we will measure them.
Year 1:
- Confirm our food bank partnership and storage space.
- Recruit and train regular volunteers.
- Keep a set distribution schedule and serve about 150 households a month, about 600 different households over the year.
- Reach our Year 1 goals for food given out and fresh food.
- Stay within a balanced budget of about $141,000.
Year 2: add a second operations staff member; budget of about $179,000; add a new distribution day or location.
Years 3 to 5: grow to four operations staff and a budget of about $259,000 by Year 5. Grow donations to about $85,000 a year. Add more grocery stores and farms as food partners.
How we will check our results. Households served, visits, pounds of food and the share of fresh food are recorded every distribution day. Twice a year, a short survey asks families whether the food lasted until their next visit and how we can do better. Staff and the Board review results and share them with our funders.
Funding Request
What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $20,000 from the Hartwell Foundation for buying fresh produce and paying our operations staff member, for January through December 2027. Year 1 budget: about $141,000, planned to balance. Year 1 money coming in: - Grants: $111,000 (this request plus other grants we are applying for). - Food and cash donations: $30,000. Year 1 costs: - Executive Director: $56,000. - Operations and distribution staff: $34,000. - Food we buy to fill gaps in donations: about $35,000. - Office costs (bookkeeping, insurance, reporting): about $13,000. - Equipment wear and other: about $3,000. Equipment we buy once at the start (about $6,000) is paid from startup money, not from the yearly budget. The next five years. Our budget grows from about $141,000 in Year 1 to about $259,000 in Year 5 as we serve more families and grow to four operations staff. Grants are planned at $111,000 in Year 1, $137,000 in Year 2, $126,000 in Year 3, $150,000 in Year 4 and $174,000 in Year 5. Donations grow from $30,000 to $85,000, so grants become a smaller part of our budget over time. Savings. We start with about $15,000 of our own plus $50,000 in startup support, and plan to keep about five months of costs in savings. Help we receive that is not cash. Donated food, volunteer hours and donated space are a big part of what we do, and are not counted in the budget above. About 90,000 pounds of donated food a year, free use of the church hall (about $6,000 a year in rent value), and about 2,000 volunteer hours a year. If we are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status. One way is a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that agrees to receive grants for you and pass them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Many funders accept this. Another way is to start smaller: partner with a church or community center, run a monthly distribution with volunteers, become a partner of the regional food bank, and track results carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.
Appendix Notes
Documents to attach with this proposal:
- Your IRS 501(c)(3) letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current budget.
- A list of your Board members and what they do.
- Your food bank partner agreement or membership letter.
- Letters of support from partner agencies, schools or churches.
- Your food safety rules and any certificates.
- Your distribution numbers from the past year, if you have them.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff. If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.
The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Staff pay: Executive Director $56,000; each operations staff member $34,000, growing from one to four.
- Food purchases about $35,000 in Year 1, rising about 7% a year; office costs about $13,000, rising about 4% a year.
- Grants set so each year's budget balances with a small amount saved.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real budget.