NEW TOOLS TO TRACK, MEASURE, AND REPORT OUR WORK
FY2019 IMPACT:
A GLOBAL COMMUNITY FOR ZERO HUNGER
Letter from the
President & CEO
Greetings from The Global FoodBanking Network!
In FY2019, GFN was fortunate to serve and support organizations in 34 countries. Collectively, the network had its most impactful year by distributing more than 500 million kilograms of food to 9.6 million people facing hunger and by partnering with over 55,000 social service agencies in more than 900 communities worldwide.
In spring 2017, GFN announced the “8 Million by 2018” campaign, a bold goal of expanding service to 8 million people facing hunger by the end of 2018. At the time, food banks in The Global FoodBanking Network were serving 6.8 million people. Thanks to the enterprising leadership, creativity, and tenacity of the food bank leaders that GFN serves—and to partners like you—food banking organizations as part of GFN have expanded service to more than 2.5 million people facing hunger since the campaign launch, far surpassing this campaign’s goal.
This year, alongside our network, partners and supporters like you, we were able to amplify the food bank model as an effective and efficient hunger relief solution. We witnessed first-hand the power of a global network and the importance of cross-country collaboration to help advance and achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger. The two pieces of original research released by GFN this year – The State of Global Food Banking and Waste Not, Want Not – described both the global reach of the food banking model and its collective impact on hunger relief, food loss and waste reduction, and GHG emission prevention and mitigation. These studies found that food banks served by GFN and its partners the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA) and Feeding America, provided meals to 62.5 million people in the last year, demonstrating that this model for hunger relief is providing a critical part of the informal social safety net in many countries around the world.
GFN’s annual meeting – the Food Bank Leadership Institute – convened food bank leaders from more than 50 countries in London, UK. In addition to reviewing trends in the food bank sector, it featured participants from over 30 multinational companies committed to hunger relief and food loss and waste reduction and thought leaders working to strengthen communities and advance food security. FY2019 marked the first year that GFN began to rotate the location of this meeting, and given the success of convening it in London, in FY2020 it plans to hold the session in Mexico City, Mexico.
A core part of GFN’s work continues to be the customized support it provides to food banks at all stages of development. FY2019 marked the first complete year of our Powering Food Banks for Growth program. This initiative, detailed later in this report, combines GFN’s expert technical assistance with innovative financing, aiming to help accelerate emerging food banks’ efforts to provide more meals to people facing hunger in their communities. Food banking organizations in 12 countries participated in the first phase of the program, and 75 percent of them met or exceeded their meal delivery goals. This program complements our Zero Hunger Food Bank Challenge initiative, which awarded $800,000 in grants to support members in expanding their service area and the types of food they distribute.
Organizationally, two key developments occurred in FY2019. GFN established an office in Bogotá, Colombia, its first outside of the United States. This office – led by Ana Catalina Suarez Pena with partnership from Alfredo Kasdorf based in Buenos Aires, Argentina – allows GFN to provide a new level of service to our members in Latin America that are providing critical support to children, families, and seniors facing hunger. Further, with a budget surpassing $6 million, the organization also added a new management team position, welcoming Vicki Clarke as vice president of development. We look forward to partnering closely with her as we look to build the partnerships and recruit the resources necessary to continue to make significant gains in achieving our mission.
GFN’s work is made possible only through the generous support of donors and partners like you. On behalf of our board of directors and staff, thank you for your commitment to advancing hunger relief on a global scale. I hope that this report lays out how your investments are accelerating hunger relief and strengthening communities in their ability to advance food security.
In spite of food banking’s progress, hunger and food insecurity continue to be challenges that affect more than one in nine people in today’s world. I hope you will continue to partner with GFN to replicate and scale the food banking solution to help nourish the world.
With best regards,
Lisa J. Moon
Our Mission
To alleviate global hunger by developing food banks in communities where they are needed and by supporting food banks where they exist.
FY2019 Impact:
COMMITTED TO OUR COMMUNITIES' FUTURE
We celebrate and support our food bank partners that create, enhance, and grow programs that advance food security.
Delivering Surplus Produce to Colombia's Undernourished
Twenty-eight percent of Colombia’s population lives in poverty. To help food insecure communities in Colombia access nutrient-rich food, Asociación de Bancos de Alimentos de Colombia (ABACO) implemented the REAGRO program to help collect leftover crops and distribute them to the undernourished. The REAGRO program operates in 16 food banks across Colombia and serves 41,000 people.
New platforms for global knowledge sharing
For the first time, GFN began to convene peer groups of leaders outside of its annual meeting. Executive Directors from the food bank national networks of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, and the United Kingdom met for four days in Chicago with Feeding America colleagues to discuss strengthening food banking organizations in their countries and advancing network success.
Similarly, executive directors from seven Latin American food banks met in Colombia to shadow a GFN field visit for educational purposes and to share best practices. Throughout the week, GFN member Asociación de Bancos de Alimentos de Colombia (ABACO) hosted participants at food banks in Cali, Medellín, and Bogotá. During the visit, food banks discussed topics relating to quality management, strategic planning, and agricultural recovery. They also stressed the importance of an international standard for food banking.
FY2019 Impact:
REACHING MORE PEOPLE TOGETHER
Thanks to partners like you, our capacity building programs enabled food banks to serve 95.03 million meals to vulnerable communities.
In FY2019, we awarded a total of $2,203,198 in new grants to food banks in 19 countries.
Powering Food Banks for Growth and Impact
Launched in January 2018, our Powering Food Banks for Growth program provided our network with the intensive resources and the know-how to meaningfully expand food banks’ services. Together, we were able to redistribute more food to more people facing hunger.
With your support, GFN expanded and accelerated food bank services in twelve countries: Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and South Africa.
The food banks participating in the Powering Food Banks for Growth program:
Increasing meals served to Ecuadorians by 192%
Food banks in Ecuador were created to help the 21.5 percent of the country’s population living in poverty. With grants provided by the Powering Food Banks for Growth and Impact program, Banco de Alimentos Diakonía increased its donor base and grew its fruit and vegetable recovery program, thus increasing meal delivery to malnourished children in Guayaquil. In Quito, Banco de Alimentos Quito expanded its service to more communities facing hunger. Thanks to the grant and GFN staff support, food banks in Ecuador expanded its meal distribution by 192 percent and served more than twice as many people than they did a year ago.
ZERO HUNGER FOOD BANK CHALLENGE
In August 2018, we announced that GFN would be providing $800,000 to programs that will strengthen food banks’ contribution to achieving the UN’s goal to reach zero hunger by 2030. This competitive grants program, known as the Zero Hunger Food Bank Challenge, was made possible by a generous contribution from the General Mills Foundation, with additional funding provided by the PIMCO Foundation.
• Red Argentina de Bancos de Alimentos (Argentina)
• Foodbank Australia – Northern Territory (Australia)
• Banco de Alimentos Quito (Ecuador)
• Banco de Alimentos Diakonía (Ecuador)
• Banco de Alimentos de Honduras (Honduras)
• Bancos de Alimentos de México (Mexico)
• Banco de Alimentos Panamá (Panama)
• Banco de Alimentos Peru (Peru)
• FoodForwardSA (South Africa)
FY2019 IMPACT:
OUR TRUSTED NETWORK
The GFN food bank community operates safe, trustworthy, and efficient organizations. Members of our network undergo rigorous evaluations to receive a GFN Certification. A GFN Certification assures that a food banking organization follows established legal, financial, and operational protocols to operate at optimal efficiency and effectiveness for a maximum level of impact.
These food banks were certified in FY 2019:
- Tkiyet Um Ali (Jordan)
- Bancos de Alimentos Mexico (México)
- FoodForward SA (South Africa)
- Korea National Food Bank (South Korea)
- Foodbank Australia (Australia)
- Taiwan People’s Food Bank Association (Taiwan)
- Feeding: Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
- Red de Bancos de Alimentos (Argentina)
- Fundación Banco de Alimentos Paraguay (Paraguay)
FINANCIAL & ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
We close FY2019 in good financial health. Our organization received an unmodified opinion on our annual audit. Please find the proceeding information on how we are stewarding donor investments to advance global hunger relief through food banking. Information is drawn from our Audited Financials for the years FY2016, FY2017, FY2018, and FY2019 which are available in full at gfnarchive.wpengine.com.
Financials
Thank You
Board of
Directors
& Officers
Board of Directors
Alan Gilbertson (Chair)
Member
FoodForward SA
SOUTH AFRICA
Jason D. Ramey (Vice Chair)
Global Leader – Service Lines & Industries
Grant Thornton International Limited
USA
Katharine Bambrick
Chief Executive Officer
Ontario Trillium Foundation
CANADA
Catherine Bertini
Distinguished Fellow
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Fellow
Rockefeller Foundation
USA
Martin Burt, PhD
Executive Director
Fundación Paraguaya
PARAGUAY
Executive Director &
Co-Founder
Teach A Man To Fish
UK
Cristián Cardoner
Director
Paraguay Retail Ventures
PARAGUAY
Carol Criner
Vice President – Strategic Accounts
HCL Technologies
USA
Joseph Gitler
Founder & Chairman
Leket Israel
ISRAEL
Ellen Goldberg Luger
Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Services
The Minneapolis Foundation
USA
Brian Greene
President & CEO
Houston Food Bank
USA
Sachin Gupta
Head of Global Portfolio Management Desk
PIMCO
USA
Paul Henrys
Chief Financial Officer
Feeding America
USA
William Rudnick
General Counsel
Cresset Capital
USA
Jacques Vandenschrik
President
European Food Banks Federation
BELGIUM
General Counsel
Allen J. Ginsburg
Partner
DLA Piper, LLP (USA)
USA
Corporate Officers
Lisa J. Moon
President & CEO
Douglas L. O’Brien
Secretary
Vice President, Programs
Christopher Rebstock
Assistant Secretary
Director, Field Services
Beth E. Saks
Treasurer
Chief Financial Officer
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