Food & Fund Drive – Toolkit

  • Set a clear goal, whether it's pounds of food or dollars raised, to help motivate participants and give them something to work toward.
  • Choose a theme or focus for your drive to make it more engaging, such as "holiday giving" or "back-to-school meals."
  • Create a timeline with key dates (start, mid-point check-in, and end) to keep things organized and on track. Food drives and fundraisers that last 3-4 weeks seem to strike the right balance—they’re long enough to encourage participation and provide reminders, but not so long that they overstay their welcome or become stale.
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  • Whether you're at a school, place of worship, or business, having a leader help encourage participation and set an example is important.

  • Create a small group to help spread the word and get more people involved.

  • Send an announcement to your team. Use a mix of flyers, in-person talks, and email or text messages—whatever works best for your group.

  • If you or someone else would like to say a few words about the cause and how their support is needed, feel free to use our Community Advocates sheet.

    • [LINK TO CREATE COMMUNITY ADVOCATES SHEET]

  • Share on social media that you're working together to help neighbors in need.

  • Send regular updates and reminders—about once a week, depending on how long your food drive or fundraiser lasts.

  • Share the impact your group's efforts have had on the people we serve. The Gleaners team will share how many meals your donations have provided.

  • Thank everyone who participated, and feel free to use the thank you flyer template to create a message of appreciation.

    • [INSERT THANK YOU FLYER TEMPLATE HERE]

  • Give participants ways to stay involved with this work after the drive. For example, they can sign up to volunteer at Gleaners if they haven’t already.

Resources

Gleaner's Social Media Accounts

 

Social Media Language Examples

Announcing Your Food & Fund Drive

  • Announcing your food drive or fundraiser is a great way to raise awareness and inspire your followers to get involved in helping our hungry neighbors. Be sure to share updates and tag Gleaners so we can thank you and highlight the difference you're making!
  • Sample Posts:
    • We’re thrilled to team up with [INSERT GLEANERS SOCIAL TAG HERE] to help our neighbors in Southeast Michigan facing food insecurity.
    • Did you know that hundreds of thousands of people in our area face hunger every day? Our partnership is all about raising awareness and giving crucial support to those who need it most. Keep an eye out for more updates as we work together to make a real difference in our community!

Sharing Your Results

  • After your drive or fundraiser ends, one of the best things you can do to help encourage others to get involved is to post on your social media accounts sharing how many meals you provided to our neighbors. Please feel free to tag Gleaners in the post so we can thank you there!
  • Sample Posts:
    • A huge thank you to all the amazing [students/employees/worshipers] who helped with our recent food drive/fundraiser with Gleaners Community Food Bank!
    • Because of you, we were able to provide [X number] of meals to people in need in SE Michigan. Your support is truly making a difference and helping to fight hunger in our community.
    • We couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks for being part of this effort and making a positive impact in our community together!

 

Templates & Flyers

  • Food & Fund Drive Flyer (8.5 " x 11")
  • Food & Fund Drive Thank You Flyer (8.5" x 11")
  • Create Community Advocates One-Pager (8.5" x 11")

Most Needed Food Items

For nonperishable food donations, items like canned chicken, canned tuna, canned beans, peanut butter, protein drinks, low-sodium soups, canned vegetables, oatmeal, and healthy cereal are always popular! We ask that donors please avoid donating items in glass containers.

 

Food & Fund Drive Supplies

All food drive supplies can be picked up from our Detroit headquarters at 2131 Beaufait Street, Detroit, MI 48207 from Monday-Friday between 7:30am-3:30pm. Please call 313-308-0579 or email communitygiving@gcfb.org to coordinate a pickup.

For larger food drives expected to collect at least two full donation boxes, we can arrange a supply drop-off if given two weeks' notice. We request four weeks' notice during the busy holiday season if possible.

Boxes: We're happy to lend you food drive donation boxes to help collect food. These sturdy boxes are 1.5 feet wide on each side and 3 feet tall. Each box holds about 100 non-perishable food items, making them perfect for larger collections.

Cash Canisters: If you're collecting cash donations, we're happy to provide donation canisters. These canisters are easy to use and help make collecting monetary contributions simple and secure.

Gleaners Stickers: Show your support with Gleaners stickers! They're great for labeling boxes, personalizing laptops or water bottles, handing out to donors, or even adding to notebooks to spread the word about your food drive.

Food Drive Posters: We can provide posters to help get the word out about your food drive. These posters make it easy to share the details with your community and encourage people to get involved in the effort to feed our neighbors.