How to Organize a Food Drive: A Step-by-Step Guide for Volunteers

Here is a complete guide on how to organize a food drive in your community

Helping to feed those facing food insecurity is one of the most meaningful community service ideas. 

13.5% of US households were considered food insecure in 2023 by the United States Department of Agriculture.  What that means is that the people in those families did not have enough food to feed their entire family at different times of the year. Children suffer most from food insecurity, experiencing delays in growth and poorer school performance than their peers. 

No one, especially a child, should be hungry. But food relief charities are overwhelmed with need. They can almost always benefit from a motivated group of volunteers organizing an extra food drive. Organizing a food drive is fairly simple, but it requires a certain set of logistics. It can help to be prepared for the work ahead of time and to consider how a volunteer platform can improve your process. 

What is a Food Drive?

First, it is good to define exactly what we mean by a “food drive” to guide your planning. A food drive is a push, over a set time frame, to collect donations of food in a central location. 

There are many variations on organizing a food drive, but the premise is always the same - collect food that will be distributed to people who are experiencing food insecurity. 

Pick a Local Charitable Organization to Partner With

There is likely at least one local charitable organization in your community that is established and organized to collect and distribute food. They already have an infrastructure to store the food and to reach out to the beneficiary population. 

Food banks and pantries are food storage and distribution programs, and most communities have at least one. Sometimes they deliver that food, or they partner with schools to provide healthy backpacks of food for the weekend, or they have weekly pick-ups for families on their lists. 

Homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, churches, and other institutions that have programs that connect to people in need usually rely on food donations as well.  You can try partnering directly with these types of projects to make a greater impact. 

Determine Your Food Collection System

There are dozens of ways you can collect food. It’s important to pick the best system based on your resources. Here are some examples:

1. Establish a single-site drop-off location. In this scenario, you ask people to bring certain food donations to one place during set hours on a particular day or set of days. Volunteers can man the donation site for you, or your partner can help supervise (i.e. a drop-off box). 
2. Multiple collection point models. You can work with multiple locations to set up drop boxes or stations where people can donate at their convenience over a period of days or even weeks. Volunteers can collect these donations and deliver them to the charity partner as needed. 
3. Event partnerships. You might be able to partner with a sports team, a musical show, or even a group of stores (supermarket chains) to set up collection sites/boxes during their event. 
   
   
   

Recruit and Manage Your Volunteers

You will need to build a solid team of support to operate and manage your food drive. This is where a quality volunteer management software like Golden can help you. 

• Take advantage of AI-empowered integrations with social media programs to connect with your friends or family or find like-minded volunteers in your community. A number of corporations empower their employees to volunteer for hunger relief programs, for example, and you might be able to engage with them. 
• Utilize the system to perform quick background checks if needed on your new recruits, and ensure they match with the skill sets you need to get the job done. 
• Use calendar functions to automate scheduling. 
• Post relevant onboarding and training materials to make sure volunteers understand the game plan and your expectations. 
• Track time spent on the project for each volunteer, and send them automated reports. 
• Generate impact reports for your work to communicate back to your nonprofit partner (and give your team a pat on the back!).

Set a Timeline for Your Drive

You’ll probably need at least three months of planning and coordination time to organize a successful food drive. It is a good business practice to think through your work plan and ensure you have enough time to do the job well. 

1. Establishing a partnership. You probably want to find your nonprofit partner first. It is good to allow time for this step, as nonprofits are usually busy and might need time to work you into their calendars. Plan for at least a month of partnership building. You’ll want to set meetings to understand the scope of the charity’s food needs, and also their logistical processes. 
2. Recruiting and training volunteers. Make sure you set time to find the best volunteers for your work. Again, a program like Golden can really help in streamlining the process for recruitment, even if you’re seeking to work within your own network (your company, your friends and family, your school, etc.). 
3. Establish a date/dates for the drive, based on your volunteers’ calendars and the needs of your partners. 
4. Schedule time to evaluate your impact and thank your volunteers after the event. 

Find a Drop off Location

You will want to talk to local institutions and set a good public-facing place for food donations. If you’re organizing a fresh food drive, you will need partners who have a refrigerated pantry, but a non-perishable drive can happen in most places. 

Schools are great options, along with local supermarkets and churches. Think about who you might have connections with already, and who will be willing to be supportive of your work. 

Then, you’ll need to establish the logistics of the drive. Where should people drop off food? What times of day are best? Who will be the point person to help?

Publicize the Food Drive

Depending on your budget, there are plenty of ways to get the word out regarding your food drive. Here are some options that are mostly low cost or no cost. 

1. Send social media blasts to your networks, at least a week before the event and then during the event. 
2. In your calls to action, ask people to take selfies or post their participation in some way, with a like or emoji. This helps people feel more involved in the donation drive and serves as a mild form of peer pressure to participate. 
3. Ask your drop off location partner and your charitable partner to publish the event on their channels - website, newsletter, social media, etc. 
4. Alert the media with press releases about the event. If you’re working with a store for a drop off location, they can likely help you with this type of publicity.
5. Invite a local politician or celebrity to come to the event or to post it on their social media. 
   
   

Monitor Donations and Send Reminders

It is good to keep track of donations in some way.  You can use social media to some extent, but also a good tool is to hand out a brochure or card about the charity that is receiving the food.  That way, you can count how many people made donations by the number of flyers distributed. 

You can also run an email sign-up list, or ask people to link to a digital collection site through a QR code. 

Send constant reminders throughout the day or the time period of the event, through email, text, social media, and even calls. If you have time and resources to develop a target donor list beforehand, that can help get the word out and support stronger participation. 

Wrap Up the Drive and Send a Thank You Message to the Participants

Make sure you have closure for your event. Gather data on the amount of food received, and the impact that it will have on beneficiaries. Then you can send that information to your volunteers and to your donor list, or simply post it on your social media. 

Make sure you thank your volunteers during and after the event. Golden can help you show your appreciation by linking volunteers with Karats, which gives them a chance to win fun prizes in return for their logged volunteer hours. The system can also help you generate personalized messages with AI-enabled writing tools and automated sending after their work has been completed. 

Simple Yet Meaningful - the Joy of Organizing a Food Drive

Organizing a food drive is one of the best ways to give back to your community. It is also almost always needed to help the best charities in your area support families and individuals going through a difficult time. 

Tools like Golden volunteer management software have made it easier than ever to recruit new friends and allies from your community to help with a cause.  Seamless integrations with the programs you are already using make it simple to design a profile and get started today.