FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Now in the third decade of its crusade against hunger, Food For All is constantly challenged.
The organization faces a consolidating food industry, its main source of funding, and competition is fierce among other charities. Changes in ownership or new management at food retail companies can suddenly shift funding from one nonprofit to another.
There are no guarantees when it comes to annual budgeting, said Denis R. Zegar, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit organization here. “A lot has to do with the luck of the draw more than anything else,” he said.
If the 1,124 Albertsons stores acquired by Supervalu had been acquired by others, Food For All could have lost significant funding. Luckily, it was Supervalu that bought part of the Albertsons company. Supervalu was one of the founding companies of Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger, which was founded in 1985, as was Food For All. The organizations merged together in 1997.
“Supervalu recognizes the true value of what Food For All brings both to retail and to the community and community hunger programs,” Zegar noted. “There has been no interruption whatsoever because of the Albertsons acquisition.”
Food For All aligns itself with supermarkets nationwide with a simple turnkey system to raise funds through customer donations at the point of sale. The campaigns are year-round and seasonal.
There is no better place to raise food for the hungry than at the supermarket where food is plentiful and the customer count is high and frequent, Zegar said. This fact has not escaped the recognition of other charitable organizations as well.
“We compete with everybody now,” he said. “Charities have recognized for some time that the best place to go for fund raising are grocery stores. The reason is the customer count on a weekly basis runs into the tens of thousands and the exposure is weekly. So retailers are consumed with very good charities.”
While many supermarket chains support the Food For All cause, which is viewed as the food industry's leading charitable organization, others instead prefer to run their own programs and support other worthwhile organizations.
The organization faces added pressure when world events go awry with hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, famine and wars that all compound the world hunger issue and leave millions of people without basic food and water.
Food For All has been able to generate double-digit revenues in good times as well as bad, Zegar said, including 2001 when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
“Our experience in the past has been that in spite of natural disasters and wars, we have done quite well,” Zegar said. Last year was no exception. When Hurricane Katrina hit, Food For All saw an uptake in funding for flood victims.
For the year ending Sept. 30, 2005, FICAH, the legal name under which the nonprofit operates, reported revenues of $4.8 million. Zegar said the organization exceeded its revenue projections by $200,000. This year Food For All expects to generate $5.5 million to $6 million in revenues.
Zegar credits Food For All's track record to its ability to be flexible with its retailer and supplier partners. It makes an effort to develop unique fund-raising projects.
Food City, owned by K-VA-T in Abingdon, Va., is a case in point. The chain turned its sponsorship of NASCAR racing events into the “Race Against Hunger.” Shoppers donate $1, $3 or $5 to Food For All through their Valu card, and in turn they are entered into a $2,500 sweepstakes to win season tickets to racing events. Last year the drive pulled in about $200,00. Food City will kicked off its fourth drive on Oct. 29 with sponsors Miller Brewing Co. and Kellogg's.
“We have totally customized our program for our retailers,” Zegar said. “We don't have a one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter approach.” About two-thirds of Food For All partners run customized fund-raisers.
Zegar, who is now in his fifth year as head of Food For All, said he changed the Food For All model from simply accepting donations at the cash register to a nonprofit marketing organization for retailers and suppliers with the goal of funding projects that help the poor rise above poverty and become self-sufficient.
“We market the individual retailer through our hunger programs so that they can get the full benefit of their corporate largesse and convey their image in the community. We no longer market Food For All, but Wild Oats, Whole Foods, Giant Food, Food City, Publix and many others that benefit through their efforts.”
Food For All also brings suppliers together with retailers for value-added co-promotions that in turn become revenue generators for Food For All campaigns.
“We never get between the retailer and manufacturer. It has to be a good business deal for both of them, and if it is a good business deal for them it has to be for us too,” Zegar stated.
Some past best practice examples include:
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Catch the Holiday Spirit at Publix with Miller Brewing Co. donating $1 per case on more than 25,000 cases of beer sold during the promotion that tied in with a Miami Dolphins sweepstakes.
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A two-week Publix and PepsiCo promotion with Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Tropicana Twister resulted in a $105,000 contribution to Food For All.
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Hy-Vee and Campbell's Chunky Soup teamed up with the NFL to tackle hunger, resulting in $10,000 for Food For All.
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Albertsons' Dallas division's “Saddle Up to Fight Hunger” with Pace Picante sauce at the Texas Fair and Rodeo. A check for $10,000 went to Food For All.
Retailers who support Food For All programs also can designate their donations go to the charity of their choice. Most of the donations are directed to local food banks or other hunger-related organizations.
WORLD OUTREACH
Food For All was created to aid those victims of the Ethiopian famine in the mid-1980s, and in the early years a good portion of its budget went to international non-government organizations as grants to promote self-help and find sustainable solutions to end hunger.
“The world has changed,” Zegar said. Today just 10% of Food For All's budget is donated to international causes.
“At one time we used to fund $1 million a year,” he said. “Over time, retailers wanted their money to stay local so we've cut back significantly on international funding.
“The tragedy is now we are fighting terrorists, and the only thing that truly deters terrorism is when people are not hungry. When they are hungry, they don't care who is in power.”
He cites a micro-loan program in Afghanistan in which women are lent $70 to buy a sewing machine. From the work they get to sew goods they quickly pay back the loan and become self-sufficient. “While hunger in the United States is important, there is a value to solve it abroad as well,” Zegar said.
When it comes to self-help programs, Food For All is endorsing a program, GoZonkers, designed to help children watch their weight by staying active and eating nutritional foods. The childhood obesity educational campaign, launched last year at Wild Oats, will be a main focus of Food For All's efforts next year, Zegar said.
“It's a superb program and we know we have a tremendous amount of interest by other manufacturers and retailers so we are going to spend a good deal of time redeveloping the program.”
Trends indicate the current state of hunger worldwide is a growing concern. Zegar noted that there are more working poor in America as higher-paying jobs go abroad.
“What we are trying to do is fund programs to help people help themselves and get out of the poverty cycle,” Zegar said. “That's what makes Food For All so important.”
