According to Feeding America^®, 47 million people face food insecurity, experiencing daily challenges with hunger and its health and social impacts. No community goes untouched – 100% of counties across the country experience food insecurity, and over 18 million people live more than one mile away from a grocery store. 

As a technology company that powers grocery delivery across the country, we believe that our platform is uniquely positioned to help reduce barriers to food access. That’s why it is a priority for Shipt to help create sustainable, community-driven impact, ensuring fresh, nutritious food is accessible, regardless of zip code.

In its fourth year, Shipt’s Community Grants program invests in local organizations that are working to create accessible and sustainable food infrastructure by supporting local community Mobile Markets and Teaching Farms. These innovative and community-led organizations are helping sustainably and scalably improve food access. 

• Mobile Markets deliver nutritious food directly to neighborhoods impacted by food and economic insecurity.

• Teaching Farms reconnect communities to urban agriculture, creating pathways to sustainable, local food systems.

Supported by a new tiered funding structure, the program invests in both early and established nonprofits that are re-imagining how they transform and narrow the impacts of hunger in their communities.

• Seed Tier: One year of funding up to $10,000

• Growth Tier: One year of funding up to $20,000

• Rooted Tier: Two years of funding up to $35,000 annually

Our Seed Tier grantees, like The Nourish Foundation, a teaching farm in Opelika, Alabama, are just starting their journey. They plan to use the grant to support infrastructure and startup costs for a teaching farm that provides fresh produce to their community.

One of our Rooted Tier grantees, Boston Medical Center, will be using their grant to expand educational programming and community engagement to further enhance access to hands-on learning for patients, families, and their neighbors using their rooftop Teaching Farm.

In addition to the 17 Teaching Farms and Mobile Markets receiving grants from Shipt this year, six past grantees are receiving a second year of support. Like the plants grown in the teaching farms, investment in community takes time to develop, which is why Shipt renews grants to select organizations. Organizations like Saba Grocers Initiative in California, UAB Live HealthSmart in Alabama, and Buddy System MIA in Florida. 

No matter where they are in their journey, the selected organizations - from Alabama, Minnesota, New York, Washington, D.C., Arizona, Maryland, California, Colorado, Texas, and Massachusetts – are all taking unique approaches to expanding food access in their communities.

“With human connection at the core of what we do at Shipt, we know the power of people and communities coming together to make a lasting impact.” said Shipt VP of Culture and Community Khadijah Abdullah. “Support for each of these grants means investing in local solutions that strengthen community and bring us one step closer towards a future where fresh, nutritious food is accessible to everyone.”

Over the past four years, Shipt has awarded more than 80 Community Impact & Innovation Grants, totaling nearly $1.3 million to date. Past grant recipients include Appetite for Change, a nonprofit that uses food as a tool to build health, wealth, and social change in Minnesota. Through the grant and in partnership with Shipt, AFC has been able to grow their “Community Cooks Meal Boxes” program, which has fed tens of thousands of families across North Minneapolis. 

Across the country, Shipt’s grants have helped supply over 2.8 million meals, served nearly 520,000 food-insecure individuals, and engaged more than 250 small businesses.

Read more below on how Shipt’s grants will support these local organizations:

Seed Tier

The Nourish Foundation (Opelika, Alabama): Shipt funds will support infrastructure and startup costs for a teaching farm in order to provide fresh produce to their community.

Community Action Duluth (Duluth, Minnesota): Shipt funds will go toward building new farm beds, supporting continued year-round programming and increasing engagement with, and educational offerings for, high school students.

Pawling Community Garden (Pawling, New York): Shipt funds will support the startup costs of the community garden’s expansion and enable an on-site teaching farm.

Martha’s Table (Washington, D.C.): Shipt funds will be used to purchase tools and materials to support a community garden in a historically under-resourced community with limited access to fresh food.

Growth Tier

Activate Food Arizona (Phoenix, Arizona ): Shipt funds will cover moving fees to a new partner site and the purchase of a new walk-in cooler.

Emeril Lagasse Foundation (Baltimore, Maryland): Shipt funds will support the home-based, hydroponics growing program along with teacher training, which helps connect educators to growing, cooking, and sharing food. Funding will also help seven Baltimore school partners purchase supplies and ingredients for cooking, nutrition, and gardening and education classes.

Intersection of Change (Baltimore, Maryland): Shipt funds will expand the number of youth served, increase weekly program hours, and enhance educational content through partnerships with local farmers and nutrition experts. 

Fresh Approach (Concord, California): Fresh Approach has pivoted healthcare referrals, linking patients to healthy food vouchers. Shipt funds will help build on these lessons, expand referrals, and launch two new market stops. 

GoFarm (Golden, Colorado): Shipt funds will enable the Community Access Food Access Mobile Markets to hire an intern who will help expand capacity and grow program reach.

We Don’t Waste (Denver, Colorado): Shipt funds will support all Mobile Food Market expenses, including staffing, market supplies, fuel, and maintenance for food recovery trucks, operations software/equipment, marketing, and warehouse costs.

Mill City Teaching Farm (Dallas, Texas): Shipt funds will help increase youth participation, improve knowledge retention and sustainable agriculture practices, and build community engagement and partnerships to enhance support for student learners.

Teens for Food Justice (New York, New York): Shipt funds will help fill current gaps in funding for farm programming that reaches three schools on the Dewitt Clinton Educational Campus. Funding will go toward covering the partial salary of key program and farm staff, growing supplies, and program supplies.

Rooted Tier

Boston Medical Center (Boston, Massachusetts): Shipt funds will be used to expand their educational programming and community engagement to further enhance access to hands-on learning, for patients, families, and their community. 

FRESHFARM (Washington, D.C.): Shipt funds will support the Pop-Up Food Hub, which utilizes the infrastructure of farmers markets and a small fleet of vehicles to deliver locally grown produce at wholesale prices to people struggling with food security. Funding will also support the FoodPrints school program, which provides hands-on training for harvesting in school gardens and how to prepare food in classroom kitchens.  

West Valley Community Services (San Jose, California): Shipt funds will support the operations of the Mobile Food Pantry/Park-It Market that visits various locations throughout the week and offers food, case management, and support services.

Jones Valley Teaching Farm  (Birmingham, Alabama): Shipt funds will enable the Farm to advance pre-K-12 educational attainment through food-based experiential learning, create pathways for Birmingham City school students and graduates to achieve economic mobility through paid on-the-job training, and create a healthy community through distributing free produce and seedlings.

Grant Renewals

Compudopt (Chicago, Illinois): Shipt will continue to support Compudopt’s tech education and workforce programming, which includes digital skills training and a free laptop for underserved youth in Chicago.

College AIM (Atlanta, Georgia): Shipt will continue to support the expansion of College AIM’s successful workforce readiness program into the core curriculum for first-year collegians. 

Swipe Out Hunger (Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan): Shipt will continue to support Swipe Out Hunger’s work in the Midwest region, specifically programs and advocacy work in both Illinois and Michigan, where they support 66+ college and university campuses.

Kanbe’s Markets (Kansas City, Missouri): Shipt funding will help to continue the scale of Kanbe’s community programs, specifically its Store Navigator pilot program and procurement support for their Fresh-Food-Access-Point Partner stores. 

Saba Grocers Initiative (Oakland, California): Shipt will support their Fresh 5x initiative that allows corner stores to offer produce incentives to SNAP customers to help make fresh, culturally relevant produce more accessible in underserved neighborhoods. 

Live Health Smart Alabama, UAB (Birmingham, Alabama): Shipt funds will be used to enhance the availability of fresh produce offerings on their mobile market and expand their nutritional education outreach. LiveSmart’s approach not only increases access to healthy food but also provides the knowledge and tools to make nutritious choices a sustainable part of everyday life.

Buddy System MIA (Miami, Florida): Shipt will continue to support the New Buddy System’s Community Fridge Miami network, which brings rescued food to people in need across their targeted communities. This funding will specifically support infrastructure and maintenance costs across sites.