Thanks for your interest in running a Food and Fund drive! It’s a great way to help support our work while getting your organization or group engaged in the community.
Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions that we hope you will find helpful in running your drive.
QUESTIONS:
- How do I register for a Food and Fund Drive?
- We are only planning on collecting food in barrels and aren’t planning to raise financial donations. Do I still need to register with your online tool?
- What supplies does the Food Bank provide for my Drive?
- Where do I find my materials?
- How early do I need to schedule my drive and request my barrels?
- What are the barrel delivery and pickup hours?
- What happens if we fill our barrel before our scheduled pickup date?
- Can I pick up a barrel at your warehouse?
- Is it possible to get different sized barrels? How big are the barrels? Will they fit in my car?
- My office collected financial donations as well as food. Can I give my checks and cash to your drivers when they come to collect my barrel?
- What if I don’t want a collection barrel?
- What is a Virtual Food Drive?
- How does the Virtual Food Drive work?
- Is it better to donate food or funds?
- What is the point structure?
- Can I donate by cash/check?
- How do I find out how much my organization turned in (pounds and financial donations)?
- How do I get my tax donation receipt?
- How do I handle my company's matching gifts?
- What foods are needed most?
- Can I drop food off at the Food Bank?
- I’d like to do a drive for Thanksgiving and then one for Christmas. How does that work?
ANSWERS:
General Information
- Food and Fund Drives — How do they work?
Here’s how it works:
You register online for the drive here.
- You will be asked to answer some simple questions about your group — such as size of group, contact information and fundraising goals.
- Create a customized welcome message and to upload a logo or other image to appear on your page.
- If you wish to collect food as part of your drive — fill in the preferred delivery and pick up dates for your zip code.
- Please Note: your delivery and pick up dates are not confirmed upon registration. You will receive a personal email from our Food and Fund Drive Coordinator once the dates have been confirmed with our drivers. We will do our best to accommodate your requested dates.
- If you have special delivery instructions or special timing issues for our drivers, please list this information in the special instructions section of the registration form.
- If you wish to only run a virtual online food drive, there is no need to request barrels. Simply leave this section blank.
Publicize your drive
- You will receive an email containing a unique URL to your personalized page. Once you have that, you can start fundraising immediately!
- Forward your personalized web page to your friends, family, group, co-workers. Donations made through this page will show up in your totals within 5 minutes.
- Here is a template email that you may find helpful in your outreach.
- Download a poster (coming soon!), enter the dates of your drive and post it in a high traffic area.
If you have requested a barrel, we will confirm your delivery and pickup dates within 48 hours.
- Due to limited resources, we are not always able to accommodate desired numbers of barrels. Each barrel holds approximately 150 pounds of food. Please take this into consideration when requesting barrels for your drive.
- Once your dates are confirmed, you will receive an email confirmation with your scheduled dates and number of barrels.
- If we are unable to accommodate your desired delivery and pickup dates, we will schedule your delivery for our next available date.
- The barrels are delivered, you fill them up, and we come collect them on your scheduled date. It’s that simple!
- Where do my donations go?
By purchasing directly from farms and manufactures at bulk discounts, we are able to purchase $6 worth of food for every $1 donated. Only 3% of all donations go towards administrative costs. The rest goes directly to provide food to those at risk of hunger.
Our food donations get sorted by our volunteers and put on the shelves in our warehouse. Representatives from some of the 450 community organizations we supply food for, select the food and use it to prepare meals for those in need or to supplement the larger deliveries we give them. All food donated goes directly into the community you donated it in.
Registration and Barrels
- How do I register for a Food and Fund Drive?
It’s easy! Just click here. Fill out your group or organization’s information.
If you would like to have a barrel delivered, you can request delivery dates there. If you are not collecting food as part of your drive, simply leave this section blank. Please keep in mind that our resources are limited, so we may not be able to accommodate all delivery requests. However we will do everything we can to give your our next available date.
Once you sign up, you will receive an email with the URL for your personalized web page that you can distribute, and you’re ready to start your drive! You’ll also receive a separate email confirmation of your barrel delivery.
- We are only planning on collecting food in barrels and aren’t planning to raise financial donations. Do I still need to register with your online tool?
Yes. Even if you are only requesting barrels, you need to register online. Just enter “0” in the cash donation box when asked about your fundraising goal.
- What supplies does the Food Bank provide for my drive?
The Food Bank can provide a few basic materials needed for a drive including food collection barrels, a printable poster (coming soon), and an email template you can use to help publicize your drive.
- Where do I find my materials?
Food Barrels are requested via the registration form. Posters and list of most needed food items are coming soon. A template for communicating about your drive can be downloaded here.
- How early do I need to schedule my drive and request my barrels?
The short answer: as early as possible. Because of the popularity of food drives during the holidays, we usually reach capacity for November as early as late-October and December as early as late-November. If you have specific dates in mind for your drive, please register as early as possible in October so that we can accommodate your desired food drive dates. Once you complete the online registration form, your account will be activated within 48 hours.
- What are the barrel delivery and pickup hours?
Monday through Friday, 9AM to 3PM. Please note that we cannot schedule specific delivery times and ask that you have someone on-site between 9am and 3pm to meet our driver.
- What happens if we fill our barrel before our scheduled pickup date?
If your barrel fills before your scheduled pickup date, contact us using this form. We will swap your full barrel out for an empty one. Please contact us when your barrel is ⅔ full since it often takes us a few days to accommodate your request.
- Can I pick up a barrel at your warehouse?
Possibly. If we are unable to accommodate your requested delivery and pickup dates, it’s possible that you to come to our warehouse to pick up a barrel for your organization. If you are interested in picking up a barrel, please contact us to let us know when you would like to pick up your barrel and we will confirm that one is available.
Note: It is very important to contact us to let us know you are planning to pick up a barrel. We do sometimes run out of barrels and don’t want you to make the trip if we cannot accommodate your request.
- Is it possible to get different sized barrels? How big are the barrels? Will they fit in my car?
We only have one barrel size available at the food bank. Our barrels are approximately 39 inches tall and 22 inches in diameter and fits easily in the backseat of a standard car.
- My office collected financial donations as well as food. Can I give my checks and cash to your drivers when they come to collect my barrel?
Thanks for collecting financial donations as well as food for the food bank! Unfortunately, our drivers are unable to secure financial donations while they finish their route. We ask that you please send them to us via mail, FedEx or messenger to the following address:
Attention: Food and Fund Drives
San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Ave
San Francisco, CA 94107 - What if I don’t want a food collection barrel?
That’s fine! Just leave that section of the form blank.
Virtual Food Drive
- What is a Virtual Food Drive?
The Virtual Food Drive is a customized webpage with an online donation form you can distribute to your colleagues, school, congregation or friends. By working together, you and your friends will make a bigger impact or alleviating hunger in our community.
Through your online page, members of your organization can easily donate and it will be credited to your organization immediately.
You can also update members of your organization on the progress of your drive by posting blogs.
- How does the Virtual Food Drive work?
Simply register your drive here. Enter your business, school, congregation or team’s information, goals, upload your logo or an image of your choice, place a barrel order and create a customized team greeting. Once the online registration form is complete, your application will be submitted for approval to Food Bank staff. You will receive an email with login instructions to the coordinator’s page where you can access your team’s personalized web page. Through your coordinator login page, you can make blog postings, and order additional barrels.
- Is it better to donate food or funds?
It’s up to you. Through purchasing directly from farms and manufactures and ordering in bulk, we are able to purchase $6 of food for every $1 donated. While we may be able to stretch a dollar, the food that is collected during a food drive allows us to provide our agency partners with the variety and quality they need.
- What is the point structure?
For those that enjoy competition, we created a point structure so you can easily collect both food and monetary donations and track them on the same meter. For every dollar donated to your team’s page, you get one point. For every five pounds of food, you receive one point.
Team members who donate by clicking on the “Donate Now” button on your page will have their donations reflected in the point total within 5 minutes. Donations by check are also welcome, but please allow for more time for them to be manually uploaded into your team’s total. To assure that all donations are counted towards your team goal, please include your company or team name.
Please make checks payable to San Francisco Food Bank and send them to:
Attention: Food and Fund Drives
San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Ave
San Francisco, CA 94107
Financial Donations
- Can I donate by cash/check?
You bet! Please send all cash and check donations via mail or messenger to the address below. To assure that all donations are counted towards your team goal, please include your company or team name.
Attn: Food and Fund Drives
San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94107 - How do I find out how much my organization has raised (pounds and financial donations)?
The best way to find out how well your drive is doing is by viewing the meter on your personalized team page. All donations made through clicking the “Donate Now” button on your team page are reflected on your meter within 5 minutes. Cash/check donations may take 1-2 weeks to process. Food totals are updated every week.
- How do I get my tax donation receipt?
Online donations will receive an automated receipt via email. Donations of cash and checks of $5 or more sent to the Food Bank will receive a receipt by mail.
- How do I handle my company's matching gifts?
Many corporations have a matching gift program. Please consult your Human Resources department to see if your company matches charitable contributions and to obtain the necessary paperwork. When making a contribution that your company will match, be sure to enclose the paperwork required by your company with your gift.
Food Donations
- What foods are needed most?
- Tuna
- Canned Meat
- Soups, Stews and Chili
- Peanut Butter
- Cereal
- Rice and pasta
- Canned fruit
Some general guidelines for food donations:
- Only donate items that you would eat.
- Check that items are still within their “Use before” date.
- Avoid glass items, which can break. If you do collect glass items, try to wrap them separately.
- We can only accept unopened items. We can accept opened packages only if the internal packaging is still intact.
Other tips for a successful drive:
- Ask participants to donate the ingredients for their favorite meal.
- Have people go shopping with their children to pick out fun items to eat.
- If it is difficult for participants to shop for physical items to donate, encourage them to make a financial donation in the amount that they would have spent at the grocery store. And remember, for every $1 donated, we can distribute $6 worth of food to the community.
- Can I drop food off at the Food Bank?
Yes! We are happy to accept drop-off donations at our warehouse and have plenty of parking! Please bring food donations to our warehouse at 900 Pennsylvania Avenue and indicate that it is for a food drive when you complete your donation form. Include the name of the organization you would like the donation attributed to if you are taking part in a drive. The Food Bank warehouse is open Monday through Friday, 8 AM – 3 PM.
- I’d like to do a drive for Thanksgiving and then one for Christmas. How does that work?
If you would like to do a drive throughout November and December, please place one barrel order. We will schedule your delivery for the first of November and your final pickup in December. If the barrel fills before Thanksgiving, we can come swap it out for an empty one. Please do not plan to schedule two independent deliveries and pickups as this is an additional strain on our drivers while we are in a time of already-limited capacity.
