Across the country, food security organizations are facing a perfect storm of rising demand, plummeting donations, and cascading cuts to federal nutrition programs. Food banks, pantries, and community food networks have long been overextended but are now navigating a new era of scarcity. At the same time, their role as lifelines for communities has never been more critical.
To better understand the challenges and needs these organizations are experiencing, Candid hosted a virtual peer learning exchange with over 70 leaders from food security nonprofits across the United States, who spoke about what’s happening on the ground and what would help them meet this moment with resilience and dignity.
Here’s what they told us they need from funders:
1. Investment in people and infrastructure
“Food insecurity is up. Donations are down. And we can’t afford to burn out our people trying to bridge the gap,” said Eric Cooper, CEO of The San Antonio Food Bank.
Organizations are being asked to provide food for more people with fewer resources. But the strain isn’t just on food supply: It’s also on staffing, technology, transportation, facilities, and volunteer coordination.
Participants spoke about the urgent need for funding that supports the full infrastructure of their work—from staffing and transportation to cold storage, volunteer management, and data systems. Without investment in these backbone functions, food cannot be moved efficiently to where it is needed most.
Many organizations described how rising demand is forcing them to distribute more food while their internal capacity is stretched to its limit. Staff are feeling burned out. Aging transportation fleets need to be repaired or replaced. Volunteer programs need better training and coordination. Flexible, unrestricted funding would allow organizations to invest where most needed to enable them to deliver food, sustain their teams, and plan beyond the next crisis.
2. Strengthened community-based collaboration
“Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had to sharpen how and what we do—partnering more closely with schools, community sites, and local leaders to stand in the gap,” said Wendi R. Huntley, Esq, CEO of Connecting Kids to Meals.
Many participants emphasized that collaboration is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a survival strategy. Organizations are creating informal systems of resource sharing—trading produce for bread, partnering with schools and churches for distribution space, and building alliances with local farmers to secure fresh food. However, these collaborations often run on goodwill rather than sustainable support.
Formalizing and resourcing these partnerships would allow organizations to pool buying power, streamline logistics, and extend their collective reach. Shared infrastructure could mean joint food storage facilities, regional transportation systems, or coordinated volunteer corps—efforts that reduce duplication and increase efficiency. Investing in these types of collaborative capacity would help food security nonprofits build durable networks that can better weather funding cuts and supply chain disruptions.
3. Fast and transparent funding with reduced reporting requirements
“In past crises like the 2008 recession or the pandemic, the federal government stepped in quickly,” said Scott Schenkelberg, CEO of Miriam’s Kitchen. “This time, the effects are concentrated and urgent, but the response feels slower—and our ability to serve depends on that timing.”
In moments of crisis, timing can mean everything. Several leaders shared stories of delayed payments, shifting eligibility rules, and complex reporting processes that left them scrambling. In some cases, the lag between when funds were promised and when they were received forced organizations to cut programming, dip into reserves, or take out lines of credit to keep basic services going.
Clearer communication, faster decision making, and simplified reporting requirements would reduce this pressure and allow food security nonprofits to focus their energy on serving their communities.
4. Support for food security nonprofits as advocates across political divides
“We’re feeding people, but we’re also telling the story of what’s broken,” said Camryn Smith, Executive Director of Communities in Partnership.
Organizations consistently highlighted the importance of advocating for food security programs and policies in a nonpartisan way, deeply rooted in community stories, helping policy makers see the human realities behind legislative decisions. Some groups have invited elected officials to volunteer at distribution sites so they can see firsthand the impact of funding programs. Others are working to educate communities across political lines, using personal narratives rather than abstract statistics to build understanding and support.
Strengthening the ability of nonprofits to tell these stories—through communications training, media partnerships, and public education campaigns—would help protect and expand public investment in food security, even in a polarized environment.
5. Long-term, trust-based relationships
“The system isn’t working—and we’re not just plugging holes. We’re trying to anticipate what’s next and plan beyond the next crisis,” said Jason Jakubowski, CEO of Connecticut Foodshare.
Finally, participants spoke about the need for funding relationships that extend beyond immediate emergencies. When funding is episodic or project-specific, it forces organizations into short-term thinking, often at the expense of sustainable impact. What organizations need are partners who understand the evolving nature of their work, who stay engaged over the long term and are willing to listen and adapt alongside them.
Multiyear funding commitments, open lines of communication, and trust-based relationships would give food security nonprofits the stability they need to invest in staff, innovate, and respond to the changing needs of their communities without constantly looking over their shoulders.
Where do we go from here?
Food insecurity is growing. Federal support is shrinking. Nonprofit leaders are showing up every day with creativity, grit, and deep knowledge of local community needs. They need partnership from foundation funders—urgently.
The insights shared by leaders of food security nonprofits point to one clear truth: If we want strong food systems, we must invest in the people, organizations, infrastructure, policy, and public trust holding them together.
Photo credit: SDI Productions via Getty Images
The post ‘We’re feeding more people with less’: What food security nonprofits need now appeared first on Candid insights.
