1) Plan!

v     Choose Dates—Ensure your drive will not coincide with any other activities your organization, school, business, or church is involved in.  A two-week period is generally ideal.

v     Pick a location—Your food collection barrels or boxes should be easily accessible and visible.

v     Talk to Management—Encourage your boss, chair, president, or principal to support the drive with a monetary or in-kind match, a “dollar for pound” gift, staff or classroom incentives, or just through vocal public support of your efforts.

v     Set a goal—Decide upon a target amount of food and a target level of participation.

2) Promote!

v     Put It On Paper—Create posters, signs and flyers advertising your food drive.  Make sure you identify your stated goals and include statistics on hunger in our community.  The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center can provide you with this information.

v     Use Electronic Tools—Remind people of your drive in your email signature and on your voicemail message.  If your organization ahs a website or intranet, post information about your drive on it.

v     Talk it up—Impress upon your co-workers how much this means to you, and create some friendly competition within your office.  Remember, the more people talking about your food drive, the better results you’ll have.

3) Make it Fun!

v     Get a Commitment—Pass around a signup sheet with items needed and spaces for names. This is an excellent way to guarantee participation.

v     Keep it exciting—Give daily or weekly updates and congratulate the first participants publicly.

v     Do Something Different—Give participants something to look forward to.  Organize a kickoff or packing party and invite a speaker from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center to attend and say a few words.  Schedule a group shopping trip to the grocery store, or a volunteer day at the Feed A Friend Food Pantry.

v     Offer Alternatives—Encourage participants to give grocery store gift certificates in $10 to $25 increments if they don’t have time to shop for the food drive.  Or encourage them to make a monetary contribution ($1.00 equals one nonperishable food item)

v     End On Time—Try to stick to your planned end date.  This way your food drive won’t lose urgency.  People respond to deadlines.

4) Follow Up!

v     Announce Your Results—Make sure you thank all participants and email or post your results.

v     Plan for Next Time—Think about what worked and what didn’t, and plan dates and goals for next time.

v     Spread the Word—Tell someone else about the Feed A Friend Food Pantry and how you helped us.  Encourage them to hold a food drive as well

Food Drive Basics