Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Everyone needs to eat—but we don’t all have equitable access to good food. Map the Meal Gap 2021, an annual Feeding America report, estimates that 33,690 Larimer County residents (including 7,000 children) are "food insecure," meaning they don't have reliable access to enough food for a healthy, active life. This creates a series of impossible choices: Pay the rent or buy groceries? Fill a prescription or fill the fruit bowl? Put gas in the car or food in the fridge? Food is such a basic need that not knowing where your next meal is coming from can make it hard to focus on a job or an education, perpetuating a cycle of poverty. Our hunger-relief programs provide fuel so children can do better in school, older adults can maintain their independence, and everyone in our community has the energy they need for a healthy, happy life.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Fresh Food Share
Fresh Food Share, our largest program, is a client-choice food pantry program that provides free groceries to Larimer County residents facing hunger. Locations include two brick-and-mortar pantries (in Fort Collins and Loveland), and three partnering mobile pantry sites.
Nourishing Network
Our Nourishing Network program partners with other local non-profit organizations that also serve at-risk populations. By helping our partner agencies acquire food for their programs at minimal cost, we ensure that people at risk for hunger have access to food at a wider variety of times and locations than we could provide alone. Our Nourishing Network also saves partner agencies money on grocery costs so they can allocate more of their funding to other services.
Nutritious Kitchen
In our Nutritious Kitchen, volunteers and staff prepare scratch-cooked meals and snacks for our child and older adults meal programs: Kids Cafe delivers food to partnering programs that serve at-risk children after school and during the summer. Our nutrition initiative for older adults prepares scratch-cooked meals for distribution through our program partner, Volunteers of America.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Member, Feeding America 2022
Member, Feeding Colorado 2022
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Pounds Distributed (Fiscal Year)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Unemployed people, Victims of disaster, People with disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total pounds of food distributed through all FBLC programs.
Pounds of Produce Distributed (Fiscal Year)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Unemployed people, People with disabilities, Victims of disaster
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. Frozen or canned items are not included in this total.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Fresh Food Share
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Unfortunately, recent totals are incomplete because many clients have been checked in anonymously to serve everyone in line during the pandemic. Data shown is for our fiscal year (July 1 - June 30).
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
To keep up with the growing need for food assistance, the Food Bank for Larimer County intends to increase food distribution to 12.5 million meals annually by 2035.
Our dream is to provide not just good nutrition, but also health and hope to stabilize the lives of our clients and help them on a path to self-sufficiency.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
To achieve the goal of distributing food for 12.2 million meals by 2035, the Food Bank has developed four primary strategies.
1. Increase services to under-served geographic areas identified by our service gap analysis.
2. Plan for population growth by increasing our capacity to source and distribute more food.
3. Increase service to older adults in order to meet the needs of this growing demographic group.
4. Expand participation in our Kids Cafe meal program during the summer months when children don't have access to free or reduced-price school meals.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Founded in 1984, the Food Bank for Larimer County has worked for more than three decades to provide food to all in need. The organization started in a small space furnished with a single card table before moving to a larger facility in 1987 and adding a Loveland location in 2006. Both of those facilities were later expanded (in 2001 and 2011, respectively). In 2018, the Food Bank purchased a third food distribution facility to keep up with a growing population and an increasing need for food assistance.
Today, the Food Bank for Larimer County is the only Feeding America clearinghouse for donated food in our area and serves as the County’s central hub for charitable food distribution. Our leadership team is experienced in food banking, fundraising, management, and warehouse operations. A private, nonprofit organization, the Food Bank distributes enough food for more than 8.5 million meals annually through our programs and community partners.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
To help close service gaps, we piloted a Mobile Pantry program in 2016 and have since added new locations to serve even more people. Evaluating those sites and finding new program partners is an ongoing process.
In May 2018, our service capacity expanded with the move to a larger distribution facility. This has given us the space to store and distribute more food, although rising food transportation costs (due to a national shortage of CDL drivers) continue to pose a significant challenge.
We partnered with Volunteers of America to provide scratch-cooked meals to older adults and continue to explore other options to serve our older neighbors.
Our Kids Cafe program added a food truck, now called The Lunch Lab, during the summer of 2017. We are working on developing new partnerships and finding additional funds to provide summer meals to even more children in need. The summer of 2021 was a record year for Kids Cafe meals and snacks provided.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Our programs exist to serve people who are food insecure, meaning they don't have reliable access to enough food for a healthy, active life. Based on Census data from 2019, an estimated 33,690 residents of Larimer County are considered food insecure, including 7,000 children. While there is no simple way to determine who is at risk for hunger, our food pantries generally follow the eligibility guideline established by the federal government for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which is a household income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Most of our clients live far below that level. They include working families, veterans, students, retirees, single parents, the unemployed and underemployed. Hunger can affect anyone.
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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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
At the beginning of the pandemic, our food pantries converted to a drive-through service model with pre-packed food. Feedback from our clients let us know that they appreciated the safety of the drive-through but prefer choosing their own food. In October 2021, we re-opened our pantries for indoor, client-choice shopping, with an option to schedule curbside pickup. The new pantry experience has been designed around client feedback. For example, there's a private registration desk for first-time visitors, and new service counters are staffed by volunteers to address issues of fairness when there are limited quantities of popular items. We continue to collect feedback from clients, staff, and volunteers to refine the operation of our pantries and other programs.
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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 get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), 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
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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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 for Larimer County
Board of directorsas of 04/28/2022
Grace Taylor
UCHealth
Term: 2019 - 2024
Chris Hall
Sam's Club Distribution Center
Jacqueline Zipser
Rosenberg & Zipser PLLC
Lisa Clay
Advance Tank and Construction Company
Ty Fulcher
Social; Union Bar and Soda Fountain
Matthew Dickstein
Creative Learning Systems
Grace Taylor
UCHealth
Denise McFann
Soul Squared Brewing Co.; Summit Hard Cider
Kim McDaniel
Bohemian Companies
Cindy Lopez-Ellis
Points West Community Bank
Mark Driscoll
Retired (First National Bank)
Rollin Goering
LC Real Estate Group
Jim Martin
Retired (Kroenke Sports & Entertainment)
Jen Johnson
Colorado State University, Office for Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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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
No data
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/24/2022GuideStar 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 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 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 help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- 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.