Last week, The Chronicle of Philanthropy featured an article about Taylor Swift’s donations to food banks during her Eras concert tour. As reported, her cumulative donations resulted in hundreds of thousands of meals being available to various food banks in the cities and communities where the shows took place. This generosity was certainly appreciated and applauded by the recipient organizations. Unfortunately, it only begins to address the continuing and growing needs being met by food banks across the country.

According to Feeding America (a BBB Accredited Charity), their network of food banks distributed the equivalent of 5.3 million meals during 2023. They “work with food companies and farmers to supply food banks with food that would otherwise go to waste”  Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap shows that during 2022 overall food insecurity in the United States was experienced by over 44,151,000 people including children. This insecurity is defined as people not having enough food for an active, healthy lifestyle.

Contributing factors to food insecurity include unemployment, food prices, and poverty. Disasters such as tornadoes, floods, and wildfires also contribute to spikes in food insecurity in various areas. Food insecurity also has become an international need. For example, a New Zealand food bank network reported that over a third of monthly recipients never sought their assistance before.

Donors seeking to follow Taylor Swift’s example, can consider making their own monetary donations to food banks or perhaps donating nonperishable food, such as canned or boxed food. In addition, food banks welcome volunteers to carry out their work such as distributing food to needy families. This might involve anything from sorting donations to driving a truck for deliveries. 

As costs rise, some areas are even experiencing the development of pet food banks to help pet owners that face financial hardships.

---

Heart of Giving Podcast

This week’s Heart of Giving Podcast features Elvia Castro, BBB WGA’s Associate Director, Charity Evaluation. Elvia discusses highlights of the latest Donor Trust Report which features a survey of more than 2,100 adults in the United States and more than 1,000 adults in Canada, that explores public positions and expectations related to a selection of charity accountability themes, including oversight, charity finances, impact, solicitation materials, artificial intelligence, and data security.
 

---

Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• America’s Charities
• Twilight Wish Foundation
• World Wildlife Fund

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.