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Imagine this scenario: You launched a new nonprofit a couple years ago, have spent countless hours developing programs and measuring outcomes, and you are now having a get-together with potential donors to share the progress.  You’re blindsided, though, when one approaches you and asks why you have a 1-star rating on one of the various charity rating sites.  You had heard of these sites but hadn’t taken the time to explore them and their potential impact – both negative and positive.

The good news is that this scenario has likely not happened to you yet, and you can be proactive in controlling the digital footprint that these sites provide.

So, what is a digital footprint? Footprints, whether around the swimming pool or in the fresh snow, can help to lead you to the source of the tracks. Similarly, your organization’s digital footprints provide a presence in the digital realm that help to lead individuals to your organization and allow them to discover and possibly join in the incredible work you are doing. Most nonprofits have at least two digital footprints: a website and social media profiles. But, the more footprints that are out there, the more likely you will be noticed and tracked down.

Charity rating sites can be helpful tools in bringing exposure to your organization. If your organization is a 501(c)(3), it is listed on the various charity rating sites. 

How, you might ask? Through public information obtained through mandatory tax filings. Whether an individual is looking to donate their time or finances to your organization, they want to ensure there will be a good return on investment. And, if a potential donor searches for your organization on the internet, there’s a high likelihood that your organization’s listing on one or more of these websites will appear in the search results.

According to studies cited by Bloomerang.co:

• 52% of donors said that seeing a charity watchdog seal would “greatly or moderately increase their likelihood of giving”
• 84% said the absence of a seal “would decrease their giving”
• And, lastly, “a favorable rating by at least one charity rating agency positively impacts giving”

When someone visits these sites, they will see basic tax filing information by default.  However, you have the option to add more specific information about your organization, including impact and outcome information on most sites, and the information can be added free of charge.  You simply have to claim your organization to update your organization’s profile!

Doing so not only adds credibility to your organization, but it also provides the opportunity to more fully control how your organization appears and deliver a more accurate perspective on its mission and outcomes.  You can generally use the same information that you develop for one rating site on the other sites, so it can be relatively quick to build up your organization’s presence on multiple sites in a relatively short amount of time. 

In this article, we are focusing on how to update your organization’s information on three major charity rating sites: GuideStar.org, GreatNonprofits.org, and CharityNavigator.org.  Additionally, we’ve provided information on how to add or update your information within Google. 

GUIDESTAR

Description: “GuideStar is the world’s largest source of nonprofit information, connecting people and organizations with data on 2.5 million current and formerly IRS-recognized nonprofits.  GuideStarNonprofit Profiles are populated with information from the IRS, directly from nonprofits, and via other partners in the nonprofit sector” (source).

What It Offers:  In addition to basic demographic information from IRS filings as well as information potentially pulled from your organization’s website (e.g. the organization’s mission), GuideStar allows nonprofits to feature program descriptions, results and outcomes, goals and strategies, financial data, and organizational demographics.  Additionally, Guidestar partners with another charity rating site, GreatNonprofits.org (featured next), to feature stakeholder reviews of your nonprofit.  You can earn seals of transparency by updating your organization’s information biennally; adding even the most basic information can earn your nonprofit the Bronze Seal of Transparency.  (More information on GuideStar seals can be found here.)

Exemplar Profile: Global Vision Citadel Ministries

Creating Your GuideStar Account

1. Create your account by visiting guidestar.org and clicking Create account
2. Enter your personal information (NOTE: You will need to use your organization e-mail address for sign up in order to more quickly claim your organization’s profile), choose and confirm your account password, and click Sign up for free.
3. When prompted, connect your profile with your organization by entering its name or EIN and clicking Search.
4. Select your nonprofit and press Next to complete the sign-up process.  (You may have to confirm your account through an e-mail sent to your new account e-mail address.)

(A full tutorial with screenshots can be found here.) Claim and Update Your Nonprofit’s Profile Once your profile is created, you can then apply to update your nonprofit’s profile.

1. Visit learn.guidestar.org/update-nonprofit-report
2. Click Get started now
3. If you are already signed into your GuideStar account, you’ll be prompted to enter your organization’s name or EIN, click Search, then select your organization to continue.  (Otherwise, sign in to continue with this step.)
4. Enter the information requested in the fields, check the required boxes, and press Submit request.
5. You may be required to upload your IRS EIN Issuance Letter or an IRS Issued Letter of Affirmation.  If so, you might have to wait 2-3 for your request to be reviewed by GuideStar.  Once it is confirmed, you will have access to update your organization’s profile.  (You may have to provide documentation from the IRS to confirm your account, particularly if your organization does not have a website.)
6. General instructions for updating your organization’s profile can be found at: https://help.guidestar.org/en/articles/2191456-how-to-update-your-nonprofit-profile

(A full tutorial with screenshots can be found here.)

GREAT NONPROFITS

Description: “GreatNonprofits is the leading platform for community-sourced stories about nonprofits.  These stories are submitted by people who know you best — all those who have experienced the impact of nonprofit work up close” (source).

What It Offers: Great Nonprofits is unique in that it allows you to collect reviews and stories from stakeholders of your organization and/or community, which can be powerful in inspiring further support from others.  They consider themselves “the Yelp! of nonprofits.”  You’re able to invite reviews via e-mail, social media, or SMS text to your current stakeholders.  Once you receive reviews, they can be featured on your social media platforms to further share the impact of your nonprofit.  Additionally, reviews submitted in GreatNonProfits.org will also appear in your Guidestar.org profile.

Video: Overview of GreatNonprofits

Exemplar Profile: Global Vision Citadel Ministries

Creating Your GreatNonprofits Account

1. Visit greatnonprofits.org and click Sign Up in the upper right corner.
2. Above the e-mail, username, and password fields, choose I’m a nonprofit.  Then, enter your organization’s e-mail address and a username and password of your choice, and click Sign up.

Claim and Update Your Nonprofit’s Profile

1. Next, in order to claim your organization, enter your org’s name or EIN and click the search icon to find it in the database.
2. Click on your nonprofit in the list.
3. Click the Claim Nonprofit Profile button at the top of the informational section on the right.
4. You’ll be taken to a page that provides methods to share your nonprofit’s profile via e-mail, social media, and SMS text.  Simply click Skip this Step to continue to your org’s profile.
5. Enter your organization’s e-mail address, which could be the executive director’s address or a general “info@yourorg.org” type of address.  You’ll also have the opportunity to upload your logo, photos featuring your nonprofit, and the URL of an informational Youtube video. Click Save Changes or Skip this Step, if you did not enter any changes.
6. In the next section, you can update your org’s physical and website address, as well as add Twitter and Facebook URLs and information about volunteering. Click Save Changes or Skip this Step, if you did not enter any changes.
7. Once your arrive at the organization’s dashboard (with the Profile Completion percentage graphic), you can click either Edit Profile in the top gray menu bar or the orange Improve Your Profile button to update information about your impact, mission, and results/outcomes.  Click Save Changes, if you make any changes.
8. The greatest benefit of GreatNonProfits.org is the ability for stakeholders to leave reviews.  But, you have to advertise this ability.

• Click on Show Off Your Reviews in the grey menu bar at top share code that can be used to place badges on your org’s website.
• Click on Invite Reviews to see the sample e-mail and social media text.
• Once you get reviews, you can quickly share specific reviews on your org’s social media page.
• Additionally, reviews submitted in GreatNonProfits.org will also appear in your Guidestar.org profile.

Video Tutorial: Updating Your Nonprofit Profile 

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

Description: With Google My Business, you can:

• Add your nonprofit information to Google Maps, Search, and other Google services
• Manage how your nonprofit information shows up across Google (source)
• Collect and respond to reviews about your nonprofit.

What It Offers: This is not considered a traditional charity rating site, but it is important to consider because of Google’s ubiquity.  Whatever you think of the company itself, Google continues to dominate the market share (92%) for search engines – most likely, if someone is looking for information on your organization or wanting to provide a review, they’ll search for you on Google.  This is why you should seriously consider adding or updating your organizations information on Google My Business.  It is relatively easy, though the verification process can take a couple of weeks.

Google provides some excellent tutorials on how to go through the process of verifying your nonprofit as well as maintaining your profile through Google My Business.

• Claiming your nonprofit (text)
• Claiming your nonprofit (video)
• General tutorials

CHARITY NAVIGATOR

Description: “Charity Navigator is the largest expert charity evaluator in America. The organization helps guide intelligent giving by evaluating the Financial Health, Accountability and Transparency of charities and by providing data about 1.6 million nonprofits. Charity Navigator does not charge the organizations it evaluates, ensuring unbiased evaluations, nor does it charge the public for this trusted data” (source).

What It Offers: Charity Navigator provides a rating of charities based on: 1) their financial health and 2) their accountability and transparency.  Based on their algorithms in those areas, they claim to demonstrate how efficiently a charity will use a donor’s support.  Of all three charity rating sites featured in this article, Charity Navigator provides the least amount of input by a nonprofit organization.  In fact, many charities are not yet rated by Charity Navigator and only their basic data from IRS filings are displayed. 

Charity Navigator does not rate nonprofits until the organization has filed Form 990s for seven consecutive years and annual revenue is greater than $1 million for two consecutive years, among other criteria.  If that includes your organization, it is especially important to check on your Charity Navigator profile!  

Charity Navigator bases their ratings entirely on an organization’s Form 990. If your organization reports more than $1 million in annual revenue, it is vital that your 990 is “up to snuff.” Charity Navigator’s rating criteria is very objective and generally sensible, so you owe it to your donors to ensure that you follow industry best practices and report those practices on your tax form.

You can check whether your organization is rated by visiting charitynavigator.org and searching for your organization by name or EIN.  If your organization has been rated, a designated charity representative is able to update your organization’s contact information, mission statement, and tag line.  (Unfortunately, at this time, if your organization has not been rated, you will be unable to designate a representative.  To update information in this situation, you can attempt to contact Charity Navigator at info@charitynavigator.org.)

Charity Navigator is working on providing an impact and results score for organizations.  If it’s not rated, yet, you can be added to the waiting list for CN to create an impact and results score by clicking here.

To get started on revising your Charity Navigator profile, do the following:

1. Visit this page for instructions on designating a representative for your organization.  Once this process is complete, each charity’s official representative is able to suggest edits to the basic information, such as address and mission, shown on their rating page on our site. 
2. If you are the official representative, log into the site and visit your charity’s rating page. 
3. Click on the Edit Profile link to submit your changes. 
4. The analyst responsible for evaluating your charity will review your submission and either update your charity’s profile or contact you for additional information.

The phrase “community development” can bring up images of everything from trash pickups to bike lanes to block parties. What really is community development, and how can your church or organization incorporate it into your work?

Community development can be so nebulous because it is, very simply, members of the community coming together to make their community better. So, what do beautification projects and festivals and mixed-income housing have to do with poverty? While other techniques tackle the problems of poverty—addiction, hunger, homelessness—after they arise, community development attempts to prevent poverty by creating a place where people can flourish. Employment, healthy lifestyles, strong families, and good schools are radically interdependent. Therefore, an effective approach to poverty prevention must keep a holistic mindset.

Community development creates the conditions for a flourishing life so that families don’t fall into material poverty or social isolation. Often, this process begins at the neighborhood level. 

Community Renewal International (CRI), for instance, works with neighborhoods in Shreveport, Louisiana, to establish “friendship houses.” This regular house in a high-crime area transforms into a neighborhood community center with after school programs, GED classes, and family nights. The community coordinator and his or her family, who live in the house, build relationships with their neighbors, welcoming them to take part in improving their own lives and their neighborhood. CRI has seen a 44% drop in crime in their friendship house areas.

Lucas Rouggley had a similar idea when he moved into an at-risk neighborhood in St. Louis, MO. He and his wife got to know their new community, mentored the neighborhood kids, and hired them over the summer to transform vacant lots into community gardens. Now, the organization Rouggley founded, Love the LOU, tackles bigger problems. They connect students with mentorship, coordinate apprenticeship programs for high school graduates, and renovate vacant houses for community members to rent and eventually own. 

While these organizations have different models, they both began on the neighborhood level. They focused on building relationships first. After this trust was built, neighbors felt more comfortable sharing their fears and needs, but also their strengths and gifts that could combat community problems.

In their book When Helping Hurts, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert emphasize the importance of this shift in focus from needs to assets. Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) begins not with asking what is going wrong, but what is going right.  “Indeed, the very nature of the question—What gifts do you have?—affirms people’s dignity and contributes to the process of overcoming their poverty of being,” they write. A focus on assets is essential to building an internally strong community, not just one that has resources streaming in from outside. 

Whether your organization’s focus is community development or not, there are some ways you can incorporate this ethos into your work:

Consider your location

The purest form of community development happens when an organization is dedicated to a specific geographic place. Staff move to the neighborhood, the office operates from that area, and the group intentionally raises up individuals from the neighborhood who take leadership positions at the organization. Having a sense of ownership, as well as seeing the individuals served not as “clients” but “neighbors,” creates a healthy dynamic that makes transformation sustainable in the long term. If your program is committed to improving life in a particular place, check out this article for some ideas of where to begin.

Focus on assets by using the SWOT analysis

In our attempt to help an individual, we run the risk of forming his identity based solely on needs and weaknesses. Whether we work with communities, families, or individuals, we should work to see people holistically—with a past, future, strengths, and weaknesses. The SWOT analysis provides a structure for asking questions with the whole person in mind. This tool, which can be an easy first step in care coordination, leads organically to goals based on the individual’s desires and gifts.

Start a “neighboring” movement

Inner city neighborhoods aren’t the only ones that experience poverty. Suburban poverty is on the rise, and every social sphere suffers from the spiritual poverty of isolation. The Art of Neighboring features several resources to encourage good “neighboring,” from inspirational videos to a block party kit to a small group study guide. While the resources are made for churches, any organization could champion a neighboring movement among their staff, clients, or broader community. Individuals, too, can help their communities flourish simply by creating a culture of friendship within their neighborhoods. 

The most essential part of community development is not following a particular model or way of speaking. It is simply the recognition that communities have, within themselves, gifts, resources, and institutions that are vital for their flourishing. The job of the community developer, then, is simply to help individuals tap into those gifts and support them in authentic friendship for the long haul.

Several years ago in a meeting with some city and nonprofit leaders, I shared the need and vision for a long-term recovery center. The idea became a central piece to a ten-year plan to address homelessness. City-government leaders involved in the discussion voted to allocate $500,000 dollars as seed money to realize the new brick-and-mortar project. Some were shocked when we turned it down. Why would anyone turn away half a million dollars of free government money? Because it’s not free.

Every nonprofit leader should know that most opportunities afforded by the government come with significant opportunity cost – whatever is lost by foregoing the alternative solution. For example, in his recent article, Travis Hurley, Advancement Director for Watered Gardens Ministries, points out that donors are more inclined to give to nonprofits who don’t take government money, and more than 1/10 will decrease giving when government steps in to help. Taking a sizable government grant and retaining nearly 90% of your private donors may seem like a win, but that simple math doesn’t capture the whole of the cost. There’s more. It crowds out community, hurts your hustle, and cramps your style.

It Crowds Out Community

Growing a nonprofit for 21 years on private donations alone has demanded a tremendous amount of grassroots fundraising energy: engaging radio ads, television PSAs, mass mailings, gala events, sponsorship requests, calls, visits and more calls. We even developed a way for individuals to sponsor one night of shelter each month for $15. Thousands of donors are involved and every month, each receives a signed letter and testimony of a life impacted by their partnership. That’s a lot of work! Certainly, if we just landed a few government grants, it would lighten that load. However, like other nonprofits, money alone isn’t the answer. More so, people are.

The community we engage to financially support the work is also the community that steps up to fill more than 700 volunteers shifts every month at our mission. The results from this 2014 Fidelity Charitable survey revealed that 87% of donors are involved in volunteering, too. More interesting, financial support usually comes first. Fifty-eight percent of donors reported giving financially before signing up to give of their time. Taking government money crowds out more than private donor dollars. By relaxing the demand to vigorously engage those donors, It crowds out the very community necessary to serve and build relationships with the clients who need so much more than what cash alone can provide.

It Hurts Your Hustle

Government dependency doesn’t just happen to people trapped in the welfare system; It can happen to organizations that become reliant on the renewal of last year’s government grant. Government dependency at any level fails to be a source of encouragement, inspiration, or even decent accountability. Government simply can’t do that. But local donors can.

With local donors, I have challenging conversations, tough questions demanding honest answers, inspiring moments as we tour through our facilities. This active attention is the result of constant engagement by a community enthusiastically involved in the cause they support and care about. In a good way, it keeps me and my staff on the hustle. I consider it a type of Hawthorne Effect – the idea that performance is improved when workers know someone really cares about what they’re doing. That someone cannot be the institution of government. Rather, government dependency for the nonprofit stifles this type of healthy interaction and accountability. It’s sure to hurt your hustle if not kill it, entirely.

It Cramps Your Style

You have your own style that flows from the vision you have for your organization. That vision and the important cause it addresses are what you share with passion to a community that supports you. If you’re the leader, it’s your vision and you drive it. You work hard to develop the strategic plans to fulfill it. You teach the core values that drive an organizational culture to support it. You believe in your mission and more than anyone else, you steer it. The trajectory or course is determined by your unwavering commitment and focus on your vision – the destination of your hope. And, how your mission gets there is up to you and your team. This methodology, a blend of your passion and conviction to address the unique needs in your specific community is your style.

I once shared some of this with the leader of a government-funded community action agency. She looked perplexed. “That’s just not how we operate. The federal government drives our programs depending on what they decide to fund.” I was as shocked as she was. At that point in my life, I was unfamiliar with any organization whose mission drifts so easily to achieve someone else’s desire.

You might think that a small government grant won’t do much to cramp your style, but one Salvation Army leader in another city once told me, “Don’t ever take government money! I took a grant to build a larger cafeteria. Afterward, the ACLU sued us for praying in it!” Even what seems to be “no strings attached” may end up cramping your style.

Remember, the cost of government funding that crowds out, hurts, and cramps is worth counting carefully. I encourage you instead, call your community into partnership, keep your hustle, and never drift off course from the vision God has planted in your heart.

Imagine that you spend months crafting a relational, empowering program at your ministry. You carefully craft a series of questions for clients designed to find their talents and abilities. The person responsible for asking the questions changes out several times and one day you decide to sit in on the process. What was designed as an exercise in personal connection has become quite the opposite – an adversarial bureaucratic process that demeans your client. Changes of this magnitude in our processes happen over time and more often than we know. Beyond designing and implementing your programs well, you must maintain their effectiveness over time.

In Psalm 139:14, the psalmist proclaims, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” Certainly, we are. Most of the really amazing stuff happens at the cellular or even molecular level. Just consider that there are specialized proteins with a specific function to check out strands of DNA throughout the cells of your body looking for a mistake. If they find an error, they correct it. That’s good news! If they weren’t there to check the accuracy of cell production and function, then over time your production and function would go awry as one genetically faulty cell after another would replicate itself. 

Although our nonprofits are not nearly as complex as the human body, they’re certainly at risk of going awry. To safeguard our organizations, we must implement ways to accomplish the same function as those specialized proteins, checking on the accuracy of what’s being produced. How do we ensure our operational processes aren’t drifting off-course from their original intent and design?

An “operational audit” is one way. This is a systematic review of effectiveness, efficiency and economy of operation in an organization. These are usually performed on an infrequent basis and require an external auditor who is a specialist. If you’re already doing this, don’t stop. If you’re not and it seems a bit overwhelming, let me recommend a simple way to get started on that important task of accuracy-checking your operational processes. Rather than an audit, we’ll call this simpler approach an operational review.

Identify IMPORTANT processes

At the nonprofit I direct, I’m not reviewing the process by which our trash gets emptied. I don’t plan on it, either. In part, that’s because it’s simply not a very important process in our mission. However, communication is—it’s vital so for us—so, a review of our phone calls is very important. The first step is to determine which processes are most important for your organization. As an exercise, you might write down the first few that come to mind. To help with this, ask, “What would be the last few programs of our operation that we would shut down if we had to?” Jot those down and then list a few of the processes required for each of those operations to occur. Lastly, rate each of the processes on a scale of importance, 0-10, with 10 being the most important. Again, importance is a measure of necessity.

Identify UNSTABLE processes

Some processes might be at less risk of error or “drift” than others. Instability is a measure of the likelihood processes will vary between episodes or between different people. For example, we have a breathalyzer process during check-in at our emergency shelter. It’s important. However, it’s very stable. In other words, it’s not a complicated process and, because it only has two simple steps, it’s at much less risk of variation or error than the process that comes after that – resident data entry. Because there’s a lot of data to capture and enter during that phase of the check-in process, it’s less stable than the breathalyzer process. Looking at your list, rate the same items on a scale of instability, 0-10, 10 being the most unstable or at most risk of error.

Graph your processes on a basic XY graph

In the example, you can see that those processes in the top right of your graph are those most likely to require a review. They are the most important but also the most error-prone.

Spreadsheet apps, like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, can be used to create the charts and graphs.  Or, quickly and easily make your own graph from handwritten important and unstable processes by using this link. 

Choose a sample of instances for review

I’m glad we have checks happening on every DNA strand of every cell. I’m also glad that level of review or auditing is unnecessary in the nonprofit world. However, it is important that the review of a particular event be randomly selected. As an example, our weekly shelter review process requires drawing the folder of a resident whose bed number matches the date.  It’s also important that the reviewer be unbiased. A randomly selected, unbiased review of a process will yield the most useful and accurate information.

Build a rating system for your results

When you design your review for a specific process, ask questions in a form that “no” is a negative response and “yes” is positive. You might refer to the example. I recommend staying away from short answer responses. It will be better to do simple scoring where a “no”  represents a missed point. In other words, one “no” and nine “yeses” is a score of 9/10 or 90%.

Setting up a review process for your nonprofit can benefit you in a few ways. First, you’ll be more confident that your organization is actually doing what you think it’s doing. Second, you’ll identify areas that need attention. Ensuring the integrity of your ship requires you know the condition of the sails no less than the hull. Lastly, it improves performance and morale. If your team knows the work is important enough to be reviewed, it will encourage them and boost performance. Make sure you “catch people doing the right thing” and make a point to celebrate the quiet people who do critical work in the background. Happy reviewing!

Feeding the hungry is one of the oldest forms of charity and seems like it should be simple. However, as many know from years of practice, even when food is collected, stored, and distributed efficiently, it still may not reduce dependency or change lives.

The good news is that there are innovative approaches to solve the issues created by the standard hand-out model. Check out the eight food security models below and see which you’re familiar with and which surprise you.

Organization-Based Approaches

These approaches require active management and staffing by an organization, such as a church or non-profit. These approaches are required when a portion of the target population served is not rooted in a community, such as migrant workers or the homeless.

Controlled Giveaway Models: Whenever something is free, you can be sure that there will be a lot of demand for it. To solve this excess demand for food, the default model is restricting your clients by some attribute, most often income. Many food distribution centers also limit the amount of times their services can be used in each month or year or network digitally with other non-profits using a tool like Charity Tracker to ensure that clients are not using services excessively. The downside of the controlled giveaway model is that it tends to emphasize your client’s problems rather than their assets and abilities.    It also requires walking a fine line between the extremes of making food available with no questions and fostering long-term dependence or “laying down the law” to prevent abuse and creating an adversarial relationship with those you are trying to help.

Learn more about function-focused analysis versus dysfunction-focused analysis in the 7 Marks of Effective Charity: Categorization course on True Charity University.

Controlled Giveaway with Relationships: This modification of controlled giveaways improves the results, fostering engagement with clients by volunteers and staff on a personal level. This could look like a standard meeting with a caseworker or volunteer to discuss broader needs and track a client’s situation over time. If the meals are served on-site, volunteers and staff might eat with client and intentionally engage them in conversation. The personal connections have the potential to identify and resolve deeper needs

Exchange or “Earn-it” Models: These models ask the clients to contribute something in exchange for what they receive. It also naturally reduces the number of people interested to only those with true need, and it means you can eliminate bureaucratic check-in processes while still knowing that you are helping the right people in the right way. Your staff and volunteers do not need to have adversarial relationships with clients. If clients earn food, they receive it, and there is no reason to begrudge them the fruits of their labor.

Clients can be challenged to participate in the delivery process by sorting donations, cleaning up, or serving food. They can work in a social enterprise that generates revenue for charity, like a thrift shop or upcycling shop, or something that adds value to the community, such as a community clean-up. Alternatively, you can ask clients to participate in something that directly benefits them, like setting (and achieving) personal goals or attending classes, preferably those that require them to complete a growth task, such as a budget or a resume, rather than merely attend.

Organized Gleaning: Farmers routinely leave 10% or more of usable crops in the fields for technical and market reasons. Farmers will often allow volunteers to harvest those remaining crops for a charitable purpose, like donating to a food pantry. Because the decision is up to the farmer, there is no reason why you could not convince a farmer to allow people from a lower socioeconomic community to pick the remaining crops for their own use or resale, most likely in an organized event, incorporating volunteers as well. This is a great way to literally implement the biblical mandate which required ancient Hebrew farmers to leave some crops in the field for the poor but required the poor to harvest them themselves, rather than having the farmer harvest all of his crops and give the poor a portion (Leviticus 19:9).

Learn More: This document helps you organize a volunteer gleaning event.

Community-Based Approaches

These models are more labor-intensive to implement but, where possible, they most directly contribute to liberating people from dependency. Many of these models can evolve to the point that they are mostly or fully sustained by their clients.

Bulk Buying Club (Food Co-op): In a bulk buying cooperative, local clients pay regular dues (as low as $5 a week) and their money is compiled to buy food at a bulk discount or from a food bank. A committee of the members run regular meetings and purchase and divide up the food. This approach encourages relationship building, provides a natural avenue for classes on nutrition and cooking, and completely avoids the antagonism of controlled giveaway models. The clients pay the dues, set the rules, build the relationships, and reap the benefits of working together.

Learn More: See this description of food co-ops for more detail and the True Charity Network will train you to create a co-op.

Community Garden: This concept is well-established among hobbyists but also has the potential to be beneficial to people in a poor community. It generates fresh food and relationships, as well as encourages exercise and spending time in green spaces outdoors – all of which are beneficial to mental and physical health. In this model, you work with people in a community to develop their own garden plots in some common piece of land, perhaps owned or leased by a non-profit. You can require either a plot fee, work to be completed in common areas, or both to make the project more sustainable. This model only feeds people when crops are in season but, when coupled with a class on canning and preserving produce, it could provide year-round benefits.

<div “>Learn More: A guide to creating a community garden

Farmer’s Market: There is good evidence that people in low-income communities are willing to buy produce from a farmer’s market – if the food comes to them. You may be able to convince farmers from your local area market to spend a day each month in a low-income community. Alternatively, if you live in a rural area, you may be able to create a farmer’s market that incorporates volunteers or church members willing to sell produce from their own gardens. You could also couple a farmer’s market with a community garden or gleaning for extra impact.

Learn More: An evidence-based report on making a farmer’s market work in a low-income neighborhood

A New Grocery Store: New evidence suggests that “lack of access” is not a primary driver of food insecurity or unhealthy eating habits. Consequently, merely convincing a grocery store to open within a poor community is unlikely to have a large impact. However, physical store models that involve securing community buy-in, along with education, can have a positive impact on food security and health. There are resources to help you create Food Co-ops, which are different from bulk buying clubs, in that they are physical stores owned by the members of the community. There are a handful of organizations that have created non-profit grocery stores in poor communities, which include an education component, but very few survive.  A more successful concept is a mobile grocery/fresh produce truck that moves its location daily.

(Please note that external links are shared to be helpful, but we cannot fully endorse views on external sites.)

Interested in learning more about this empowering alternative to the traditional handout model?  Our Food Co-op Model Action Plan (MAP) provides a detailed explanation of this model along with steps on how to establish a food co-op or transition an existing food pantry to this innovative model