Food Bank of Iowa
Stopping hunger starts here.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Food Bank of Iowa's mission is to provide food for children, families, and seniors to lead full and active lives, strengthening the communities where they live. Right now in Iowa, 11% of individuals live in poverty. That means more than 300,000 people lack access to the food they need to thrive. Without enough nutritious food, adults can struggle at work and at home, health problems can develop or worsen, and stressful decisions can add up. In children, the lack of adequate nutrition can have profound, lifelong impacts on growth, development, and learning.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Partner Network Food Distribution
Our primary program is the distribution of food through a network of 700 partner agencies, including community food pantries, school pantries, congregate meal sites, homeless shelters, veterans service offices and others.
School Pantry Program
To supplement our primary distribution, we have established a network of food pantries located within and operated by schools. These pantries are primarily designed to serve students and families in need, but may also serve other community members.
Mobile Pantry Program
The mobile pantry program is designed to place a temporary, pop-up food distribution resource in underserved areas. Serving both as an emergency resource for area residents in need and as a proof of need to local leaders, the mobile pantry is intended to lead to the implementation of a more permanent solution.
The BackPack Program
The BackPack Program provides a sack of nutritionally balanced, child-friendly foods to children in need at the end of each school week. The BackPack sack is intended to provide food to that child over the weekend, returning him or her to school the next week ready to learn.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Feeding America
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The USDA defines a meal as 1.2 lbs. of food. We use our distribution data to calculate total meals. Each data set corresponds with the fiscal year (July 1-June 30) beginning that year.
Total pounds of food rescued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This data point includes all food rescued from our retail partners. It does not include general donations or USDA TEFAP foods.
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our organizational partners include food pantries, homeless shelters, congregant meal sites, schools, and many other types of organizations. A merger in Jan. 2018 greatly increased this number.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This data point reflects total individuals served through our programs and partners. This number does not reflect unique individuals.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our vision is a hunger free Iowa. By working to provide adequate supplies of nutritious food to our partner agencies and through our own programs, we can help ensure that every Iowan living in the 55 counties we serve has all they need to thrive. We currently distribute more than 1.5 million lbs. of food per month. To meet the need in the communities we serve, we project that figure will quickly reach 2 million lbs. of food per month.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Food Bank of Iowa continues to address growing and unprecedented need throughout our 55-county service area. Poverty, rising cost of living and dramatic changes in SNAP benefits and eligibility have left more Iowans in need of food assistance than during the height of COVID. Food Bank of Iowa’s operations have been pushed in unexpected ways. Doubling our food storage capacity through our newly expanded Des Moines distribution center will allow us to take advantage of better pricing and operate more efficiently. We are working to close the meal gap and ensure hardworking Iowa families, children, seniors and veterans have the nutrition they need to live full and active lives.
Food Bank of Iowa is committed to:
- Nutritional equity for households with limited food budgets
- Access for vulnerable Iowans – children, seniors and veterans
- Expanded collaborations with proven, trusted service organizations
To that end, our commitments include:
- Food Bank of Iowa will increase the number of school districts with pantries to 100 by the end of FY 2024 and to 168 by the end of FY 2026. For the largest school district we serve – Des Moines Public Schools – we are working toward every school getting its own pantry. School pantries support the entire family.
- Food Bank of Iowa will have food in 30 Veterans Service Organizations by the end of FY 2024 and all 55 county VSOs by the end of FY 2026.
- Food Bank of Iowa will work with Area Agencies on Aging to provide services for seniors in 30 counties by the end of FY 2024 and all 55 by the end of FY 2026.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With a staff of 40 dedicated professionals, 10 refrigerated trucks, and 2 large-scale distribution centers, Food Bank of Iowa is ideally suited to serve as the hub of our state's robust food assistance network. Since 1982, we have built a robust, resilient network of more than 700 hunger-fighting agencies to help us distribute food to people in need, and our direct distribution programs help us ensure that every food insecure Iowan we serve gets the food they need to thrive.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Food Bank of Iowa partners with 143 school pantries in 43 counties. We support two monthly mobile pantries for veterans in Des Moines and Ottumwa, as well as distribute emergency food boxes through 13 county VSO offices as often as needed. We are working with Area Agencies on Aging to connect older Iowans with food assistance resources in their local communities across 55 counties.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Food Bank of Iowa
Board of directorsas of 07/18/2023
Ken Clary
Bellevue Police Department
Term: 2022 - 2024
Ross Dean
Versova
Hannah Krause
Eden
Capt. Ken Clary
Bellevue Police Department
Brennen Smith-Hargrove
John Deere
Casey Decker
Sammons Financial
Miriam De Dios Woodward
ViClarity
Bill Even
National Pork Board
Brad Liggett
Nationwide
Chad Willis
Ruan Transportation
Jill Hittner
Principal Global Investors
Terri Vaughan
University of Iowa
Jim Dean
Affinity Credit Union
Tim Glenn
Corteva
Mike Simonson
Simonson and Associates
Clay Holderman
UnityPoint Health
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 07/13/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.