Scaling Food Recovery and Hunger Relief: Learnings from ReFED's Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator

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CROSS-CUTTING TOOLS

KEY ACTIONS

Technology and human-centered design can be key enablers for a food recovery organization’s ability to scale.

Food Recovery Organizations can assess their work and activities within the eight recommended best practices, examine how they have been leveraging cross-cutting tools, and identify opportunities to improve, as well as the right best practice(s) to implement.

FOOD RECOVERY AND THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19

Technology can be a tool to drive the efficiency that is critical to helping organizations grow their reach and impact. It has proven to be a valueadd when it is intentional and flexible, takes into account the end user, is designed with outcomes in mind, and gathers data. Issues can arise when assumptions are made about why people may be facing hunger and what end recipients need or want. Incorporating human-centered design into all aspects of a food recovery program enables organizations to consistently keep the perspectives, needs, and experiences of the end recipient front and center, which will make their work more effective and ensure it is delivered in a dignified manner.

Food Businesses can assess how food recovery fits within their overall food waste reduction strategy and explore how their existing assets and in-house knowledge, such as data, backhauling, and technology, could be leveraged and shared to further reduce food waste. Funders could explore how the investment types available at their disposal can help grow the impact of food recovery. Philanthropy, in particular, can help fund system gaps, address system failures, encourage long-term behavior change, and underwrite the costs of an initiative that might be deemed too risky. As a result, funders can play an initial catalytic role in support of next generation food recovery efforts.

As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the U.S., food recovery organizations experienced a dramatic increase in demand for food, while simultaneously dealing with significant volunteer shortages, unpredictable food supply, and a decrease in funding and revenue. In response to these new obstacles, food recovery organizations leveraged many of the exact tools and best practices this very Report aims to highlight, including humancentered design, technology, and strategic partnerships - confirming the potential power of the insights gleaned from the Accelerator.

Potential Enablers like Fortune 500 technology and logistics companies could determine how their existing products, infrastructure, knowledge, and other assets could be leveraged within this space.

Scaling Food Recovery and Hunger Relief: Learnings from ReFED's Nonprofit Food Recovery Accelerator

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