MEANS Database

The Elevate Prize fund would allow MEANS to greatly expand the programs we currently offer and expand our reach in the US and Canada. I am particularly interested in reaching out to organizations or community groups that are not reached by government programs or traditional models of emergency food providers. I want to be creative with the partnerships we seek out and begin working more with mutual aid organizations and expand our food donors to more farms, co-ops, and other small businesses that are already community-minded.

We’ve grown exponentially in these past two years, and there’s still more room to grow and make an even greater impact on the communities we serve. I am applying for the Elevate Prize because I am looking for mentorship and guidance from organization leaders who have been working in the nonprofit sphere for many years. I’m looking to learn as much as I can, and take what I learn to make MEANS even more supportive and impactful.

When I moved to Washington, DC from a small town in Pennsylvania, I was shocked by the juxtaposition of extreme excess and chronic need: right outside of a huge event in the convention center with multiple buffets to feed 2x the number of attendees were people asking for a few dollars for their next meal. After meeting Maria Rose, a co-founder of MEANS, in a health promotion class my freshman year, I found MEANS Database. A solution to the problem that I was witnessing first hand.

MEANS was founded in 2015 and I started as a volunteer the next year, and I am now the incoming Executive Director. We are an online platform connecting those with excess food, like grocery stores, co-ops, and restaurants, with nearby emergency food providers who serve those in need. Our organization has two major goals: to reduce food waste and reroute that food to feed people facing food insecurity. Starting as an outreach volunteer, I have helped MEANS grow to have more than 3000 partners and have assisted in recovering over three million pounds of food. Our mission and goal as an organization is to serve those who are hungry in the most equitable way.

The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that over 35 million people in the US face hunger. This is 1 in 8 Americans, and this statistic is considered a significant undercount, as the latest-published data from the USDA predates the COVID-19 pandemic. As food banks face an unprecedented need for their services, over one-third of food produced in the United States is wasted. MEANS Database is dedicated to bridging this disconnect between excess and need to ultimately feed more people. MEANS Database uses an online platform to make this connection. Those with extra food, like grocery stores and restaurants, are connected with nearby nonprofits that serve those in need. Our organization has two major goals: to reduce food waste and reroute that food to feed people facing food insecurity. MEANS Database operates in 49 states and Canada.

When a food provider has excess food, they log in to our website and submit a post. This will immediately notify our nonprofit users in their community. Then, these nonprofits have the opportunity to claim the food as a donation. Food providers are incentivized to donate in our system because it allows them to receive a tax refund, while also feeding their community.

MEANS Database always strives to extend our reach across the country and increase the number of people fed. From the start, MEANS has differentiated itself from other food recovery platforms. MEANS does not charge fees to join or use our services, which is a rarity among similar food recovery platforms. By doing this, MEANS encourages users to utilize our system to make or receive donations. Our work is disruptive because it interrupts the detrimental cycle of food waste by rescuing what can be eaten and giving it to those who need it most. 

The year 2020 represented a significant anomaly in MEANS’ work. We partnered with Grubhub to develop an entirely new program to purchase meals from small restaurants hurt by the widespread closures and donate those meals to nearby nonprofits. We have also leveraged this program to target these cities in our outreach efforts to rescue food that would otherwise be wasted. We are proud to say that the program has served 468,879 meals to date, while putting more than $3,282,153 back into the communities we work in. MEANS anticipates to continue to adapt and innovate to better serve the communities we are a part of. 

Access to food is a foundational human need. Food insecurity can severely affect advancement in quality of life, economic status, and health. In addition to this, food waste is one of the leading causes of climate change and the increased temperatures on our planet. It is imperative that changes must be made to our food system. Although it will take a mass systemic change to solve this problem, MEANS works to bridge the gap by creating an innovative space for food to be recovered and given to those who need it most. 

We are proud to have users in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Because our platform incentivizes users to donate and adapts to the needs of our nonprofit users, our impact is undeniable. Over the last six years, we have rescued over three million pounds of food. Our next goal is to expand usership among mutual aid organizations, community fridge programs, and other organizations that are reaching out to their communities in unique ways. We are also working on growing our meal program to other cities so that we can support immediate COVID-19 relief efforts.