Summary
Organization name
Fresh Food Connect
2018
Tax id (EIN)
82-5180956
Category
Food, Agriculture & Nutrition
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
PO Box 181582Denver, CO 80218
Denver County, CO, US
About
Custom Tab
We are bringing in a new source of highly nutritious, fresh, local produce for hunger relief efforts all across Colorado. Fresh Food Connect's mobile app engages gardeners and redirects a currently untapped resource-- homegrown garden produce-- to support local organizations on the frontlines of hunger in the very same own communities, ensuring that what could have been food waste is instead reaching the plates of our community members facing food insecurity.
Our garden-to-plate model relies on our mobile app technology, intensive network building efforts, and your financial support, to reach communities all across the state. We've facilitated the donation of over 50,000 pounds of garden produce hyperlocally to over 30,000 individuals facing food insecurity so far this year. Help us reach more individuals and families in 2025 by supporting today!
*YOUR IMPACT IS DOUBLED: All donations received through December 31, 2024 will be doubled through a matching grant*
Your gifts helps us to:
The problem:
- This year, an estimated 54 million Americans, or 1 in 4 children, will face food insecurity.
- 40% of the food in the United States goes to waste. Not only does that pull from our strained food system and those facing hunger, it also creates significant, yet avoidable, environmental impacts that further climate change.
- Organizations working on the frontlines of hunger often struggle to supply enough fresh, local, nutrient-dense produce to their communities.
An opportunity:
- Gardening is on the rise. 35% of Americans have a home or community garden, with the average plot size of 600 square feet. And there are approximately 35,000 community garden plots nationwide!
- 89% of our participating gardeners had never donated their produce to hunger relief organizations before using Fresh Food Connect.
FFC’s Solution
FFC’s mobile app closes this gap, creating capacity for local hunger relief organizations to source homegrown produce at scale, while making it easy for gardeners to donate excess produce, rather than allowing it to go to waste.
Community-based hunger relief & food access organizations (“Operators”) license our technology to coordinate multiple incoming donations of homegrown produce. In addition to accessing an untapped source of local produce, Operators broaden their reach by connecting with local gardening communities and a national network of similar organizations.
Gardeners use the free FFC app to identify their closest Operator, and schedule produce donations. We provide a meaningful, engaging, and easy way for gardeners to share homegrown produce with community members who need it most, rather than allowing it to go to waste.
What our network is saying:
"Fresh produce is one of the most highly requested items for families facing food insecurity."
- community hunger relief partner organization
"Oh that's smart! [the app] That's a really great idea. People are able to get local and organic veggies."
-9 year old program participant
"Growing produce is a labor of love and donating it is one way I show love to my community."
- Denver gardener
"Homegrown produce is valuable to the people we serve because it fosters a deeper connection to the land, offers superior flavor and nutrition, and is free from harmful chemicals, promoting both physical and environmental well-being."
- community hunger relief partner organization
"BFR has partnered with FFC for going on 3 seasons. It is a welcome supplement of fresh food to our existing relationships with early childhood education centers and low income housing communities. We have made connections with home gardeners that are making a positive impact in the community."
-Boulder Food Rescue, Operating partner
Your financial support deepens our impact in many communities across Colorado, and will allow us to reach new local communities in 2025:
Mission
Vision: Homegrown food within reach. – We believe all people have a right to nutritious food, and we envision a local food system that brings homegrown food within reach of all.
Mission: To grow a more local and resilient food system by connecting gardeners with their communities. – Fresh Food Connect applies technology to create the capacity to connect gardeners with their communities, and strengthen local food systems.
Our goal is to increase the amount of fresh, local produce available to food insecure community members, which we accomplish by mobilizing gardeners to donate their homegrown surplus vegetables and fruits to local hunger relief centers through our innovative mobile app. This keeps food local, decreases food waste, and engages more individuals in food access work. This model is highly scalable-- we started in Colorado and are now expanding nationwide.
Background Statement
Technology has turned car owners into cab drivers and homeowners into hospitality managers. Fresh Food Connect was started to turn gardeners into farmers by creating a market for homegrown food that may otherwise be left to waste. An increasing number of gardeners alongside food inequities led three nonprofit organizations in Denver to create Fresh Food Connect. We don't want the highest quality, homegrown food to go to waste but instead be enjoyed by neighbors that need it. So in 2016, a group of forward-thinkers from three Denver organizations came together to present a new idea that would become Fresh Food Connect. The concept presented initially was a pilot project to facilitate donation of homegrown food from backyard and community gardeners to local hunger relief organizations, in order to increase supply of healthy, local, fresh produce to food pantries, and to decrease food waste.
Fresh Food Connect began in one zip code in Colorado, in the heart of Denver. Now, the organization is working coast to coast, in over 2000+ zip codes with 70 operating partners. This tremendous growth resulted with the transition from our web-based program to mobile app technology in early 2020 licensed to various local hunger relief efforts across the US, linking community members that share their garden abundance.
The focus for Fresh Food Connect is to provide access to more healthy foods, reduce food insecurity, and ultimately eliminate food deserts by allowing excess foods from gardens to be shared through local food banks and other organizations focused on feeding the community. To keep up with the demand for sourcing fresh food, Fresh Food Connect has an ambitious growth strategy for increasing our impact year over year, which will require significant community support.
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Organization Data
Denver, CO 80218