Inspire Others

People

We’re excited you’re thinking about starting a food recovery program in your community. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

What kinds of people or organizations involved in food recovery or food insecurity exist in your community?
How many people will be involved, and how many would you like to have involved?
How much time can you and your team members contribute to this project?
Do you want to start an official nonprofit or other organization, or is this an unofficial community project?
Do you plan to raise money for your group to operate, including staff salaries should you choose to form an official nonprofit?
What kind of skill sets do you and any other team members have, and who in your personal network would support you or connect you with others?
How much do people in your community already know about the issues of food waste, food insecurity, and food recovery? If people are unfamiliar with these topics, starting with or including educational materials in your work may be helpful.

The roles below are what we believe are necessary for a successful food recovery project. They can be filled by individual people, or multiple roles can be filled by the same person. There may be natural places for overlap.
For a smaller, mostly volunteer-led group, you will need someone to:
Recruit and manage volunteers
Manage equipment and transportation
Manage communications and community outreach
Manage relationships with hunger relief organizations and produce donors
Manage the budget and fundraising
Organize, delegate, and see the big picture
Source food to be recovered

How do we find and recruit volunteers?

Post opportunities on volunteer platforms such as United Way, VolunteerMatch, local volunteer websites, volunteer apps, AARP, social media, Nextdoor, and neighborhood groups.
Connect with larger groups through colleges and universities, meetup sites, high schools, businesses with corporate volunteer programs, neighborhood councils, and faith-based organizations.
Ask if you can post on a bulletin board or give a presentation.
Reaching out to local media can also be effective, especially once you are somewhat established.

How do we get volunteers to come back?

Create a safe, welcoming, and fun environment.
Make expectations and safety rules clear at the start of each event and ensure volunteers are properly trained.
Encourage volunteers to get to know one another, but don’t force it.
Demonstrate the impact of their contributions by talking about the issues you’re tackling and the significance of their work.
Send a follow-up message after each event with relevant information such as pounds of food recovered and where it was donated.
Make signing up easy and keep some consistency in your event schedule. For example, hosting an event on the first Saturday of the month makes it easier for people to plan.
Show your appreciation in creative ways, whether that is bringing snacks, organizing a happy hour, providing perks for returning volunteers, or recognizing a Volunteer of the Month on social media.

Create accurate descriptions of volunteer events. If volunteers will get dirty, lift heavy boxes, or be outside the whole time, let them know.
Send timely confirmations and reminders with all the information volunteers will need.
Add a few more volunteer spots than you think you’ll need since people cancel.
Assess liability issues. A volunteer waiver and liability insurance are recommended.
Create a system, even a simple spreadsheet, to track volunteers and their contact information.
Ask for feedback by adding a short survey into your follow-up message so volunteers can respond anonymously and you can identify areas for improvement.
Don’t be afraid to ask volunteers to bring basic equipment they have, such as gloves or a bucket, as well as what they’ll want at the event, such as water and sunglasses.
If you’re starting from scratch, begin in one neighborhood and build your community of volunteers, produce donors, and supporters before branching out.