Community organizations and nonprofits advancing economic mobility and food security are encouraged to apply for grants from Shipt ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.
Today, Shipt is excited to announce we are now accepting applications to our Community Impact and Innovation Grant program. Since launching last year, we have awarded nearly $250,000 in grants to organizations focused on food insecurity, economic disparities and youth workforce development. Specifically, grants have supported over 6,000 individuals, 10 minority owned small businesses, helped to provide training and workforce development to nearly 100 individuals, and served over 12,000 meals and 500 fresh produce bundles.
“At Shipt we are committed to taking meaningful action to improve the communities we are privileged to serve,” said Shipt’s VP of Economic and Social Impact, Khadijah Abdullah. “Through this program, we’ve seen that some of the most innovative and high-impact solutions to food insecurity and economic mobility are driven by grassroots, community-led nonprofits. We are proud of the organizations we’ve been able to partner with and look forward to identifying and supporting a new group of change makers from around the country.”
We recently spoke with two of our grant recipients from Shipt’s first grant cycle to hear more on how the grant helped their organization better serve their local communities:
“Shipt’s financial partnership couldn’t have come at a better time, businesses are still rebounding from the pandemic. Urban Impact’s work with Birmingham’s Main Street businesses represents the need for continuous, deepened support to sustain and grow Black businesses into Birmingham’s overall economy. Shipt’s financial support strengthened our delivery program to problem solve and expand the capacity of over twenty Black businesses. We are honored to have a partner like Shipt along for the journey for a better Birmingham.”
- Ivan Holloway, Executive Director of Urban Impact
“Food insecurity impacts our community, which is in the South Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, in profound ways. Many lack fresh food access, which is both a result of and a driver of racial health disparities that still plague our community. We are a predominantly Black and brown community, and life expectancy is almost twenty years less than on the northside of our city. One in three adults in our area has one or more chronic health conditions. Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program supported by Shipt was a pilot that allowed us to purchase produce up front from local urban farmers and distribute it to our community to improve health outcomes. This led to infusing $15,000 worth of produce into our immediate community in 2022, or an additional 7500 pounds of produce. These CSA bags were distributed along with access to healthcare through our partners at Dallas County Health and Human Services and Parkland Health. We are continuing this program in 2023 and are aiming to build out a cold storage unit so that we can purchase and distribute even more produce to our 2000+ For Oak Cliff members.”
- Julianna YeeFoon, Director of Food Justice for Oak Cliff
Shipt is proud to be in our third cycle of the Community Impact and Grant program and to continue our investment in organizations across the country that are working to build healthier, resilient, and more equitable communities. We started this initiative as part of a $5-million, 5-year investment to help level the playing field for Black and underrepresented populations in our local communities through increasing access to knowledge, skills, job access and ultimately earning potential. Along with grant investments, Shipt is also prioritizing building healthier, resilient, and more equitable communities though our own programs such as LadderUp.
Applications are open today and close on June 15 at 11:59 pm PT. If you are interested in applying or know a community organization or nonprofit that should, you can learn more and access the application at Shipt.com/Community.