An online platform connecting organizations with surplus food to communities in need, preventing food waste and addressing food insecurity by diverting edible food away from landfills and redistributing it free to community partners.
Means Database Inc. stands out for using large-scale grantmaking to support food recovery and hunger relief through an online platform model. The biggest recent award in the data went to Farm Share, which received $26,670,327 in 2025, and the next year Farm Share received another $13,213,664, showing a repeated relationship with a major food-access intermediary. Other high-dollar grants point to the same pattern of backing organizations that move surplus food into community distribution, including Hands of Hope at $11,771,179 in 2025 and El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Ban at $7,864,514 in 2025. The foundation’s grant list also includes food banks, emergency food groups, and community meal partners, which aligns with its stated focus on food recovery, food waste reduction, and hunger relief. The portfolio suggests an emphasis on infrastructure as much as direct meal support. Recipients such as Palm Beach County Food Bank, Northwest Harvest, Feed the Children, and Food Forward appear alongside local organizations serving specific communities, indicating a mix of large distribution networks and place-based partners. Across the data, the foundation’s work is tied to moving edible food away from waste streams and toward nonprofits that can distribute it to people facing food insecurity.
Food recovery is the clearest thread in the grant list. Means Database Inc. gave $5,450,722 in 2024 to Farmlink Project in New York, New York, and $1,928,088 in 2025 to Food Forward in North Hollywood, California, both fitting its food-rescue and redistribution focus. Emergency food distribution also appears repeatedly. In 2025, Feed the Children in Oklahoma City received $5,396,653, while Northwest Harvest in Seattle received $3,430,387. These grants sit within the foundation’s hunger-relief and food-bank support work. The foundation also supports community meal and local distribution capacity. Freedom Tour in Lake Wales, Florida received $6,873,943 in 2025 and $2,314,963 in 2024, while Inspired Vision Compassion Center in Dallas, Texas received $2,894,259 in 2025. Those awards reflect its interest in nonprofits that can turn recovered food into ready-to-serve meals and neighborhood-scale assistance.
Typical awards cluster at substantial mid-six-figure to low-seven-figure levels, with a p25 of $28,062, a median of $75,137, and a p75 of $192,620. The recent grants list also shows much larger outliers, which means the distribution is wide rather than tightly bunched. The data shows repeat support to the same organizations across years, including Farm Share, Hands of Hope, Freedom Tour, Palm Beach County Food Bank, World Emergency Relief, Arm Full of Help, Goodness Project, Inspired Vision Compassion Center, and MidOhio Food Collective. Means Database Inc. is a Pure DAF Provider, and the active program list shows unsolicited giving is accepted in several programs, including Food Recovery Program, Community Partnership Program, and RAC Raise.
$113.5M
$832K
$161.6M
$161.6M
Most grants fall between $28K and $193K, with a median of $75K.
25th Percentile
$28K
Median
$75K
75th Percentile
$193K
About 0% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Samantha Paul
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Grant recipients are entirely U.S.-based, with 207 grants going to U.S. organizations. The top giving state by count is Ohio, while no grants in the data go to recipients in the District of Columbia. Recent awards reach across Florida, Illinois, Texas, California, Washington, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and New York, with repeat activity in places such as Homestead, Lake Wales, Lake Worth, Joliet, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Grove City.
The grants go mainly to food banks, emergency food groups, community meal programs, and food-recovery intermediaries. Examples in the recent grant list include Farm Share, Hands of Hope, El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Ban, Northwest Harvest, and Food Forward, which fit the foundation’s focus on food recovery and hunger relief.
Yes. Several recipients appear in multiple years, including Farm Share, Hands of Hope, Freedom Tour, Palm Beach County Food Bank, World Emergency Relief, Arm Full of Help, Goodness Project, Inspired Vision Compassion Center, and MidOhio Food Collective. That pattern suggests repeat support rather than one-time-only awards.
The reported distribution is p25 at $28,062, median at $75,137, and p75 at $192,620. The recent grants list also includes much larger grants, so the foundation makes both smaller support grants and very large awards.
Yes, at least some active programs accept unsolicited participation. The Food Recovery Program and Community Partnership Program are marked as accepting unsolicited requests, and RAC Raise is also listed as accepting unsolicited involvement.
The recipient distribution is entirely in the United States, with 207 grants to U.S. organizations. By count, Ohio is the top state for giving, and recent recipients are spread across states including Florida, Illinois, Texas, California, Washington, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and New York.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
Current and upcoming funding from Means Database that your nonprofit may be able to apply for.
Who can apply: Available to nonprofits, food banks, and shelters seeking reliable surplus food sources in the United States and Canada. Specific eligibility and participation requirements are not provided in the scraped content.
Deadline: Ongoing participation; no fixed deadline stated.
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Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farm Share | Homestead, FL | $26,670,327 | 2025 | — |
| Hands of Hope | Joliet, IL | $11,771,179 | 2025 | — |
| El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Ban | El Paso, TX | $7,864,514 | 2025 | — |
| Freedom Tour | Lake Wales, FL | $6,873,943 | 2025 | — |
| Feed the Children | Oklahoma City, OK | $5,396,653 | 2025 | — |
| World Emergency Relief | San Dimas, CA | $4,276,058 | 2025 | — |
| Northwest Harvest | Seattle, WA | $3,430,387 | 2025 | — |
| Arm Full of Help | New York, NY | $2,910,957 | 2025 | — |
| Inspired Vision Compassion Center | Dallas, TX | $2,894,259 | 2025 | — |
| Goodness Project | Fort Worth, TX | $2,868,905 | 2025 | — |
| Caywood Ministries | Crawford, TX | $2,299,630 | 2025 | — |
| Palm Beach County Food Bank | Lake Worth, FL | $2,129,286 | 2025 | — |
| Illinois Partners in Hope | New Lenox, IL | $2,110,254 | 2025 | — |
| Feed America First | Murfreesboro, TN | $1,951,973 | 2025 | — |
| Food Forward | North Hollywood, CA | $1,928,088 | 2025 | — |
| Agape Distribution | Sidney, OH | $1,790,389 | 2025 | — |
| MidOhio Food Collective | Grove City, OH | $1,760,016 | 2025 | — |
| Restoration Bridge International I | West Palm Beach, FL | $1,672,136 | 2025 | — |
| JEE Foods | Hamilton, OH | $1,538,158 | 2025 | — |
| Helping Hands Society of Los Angele | Los Angeles, CA | $1,507,147 | 2025 | — |
| Sharing Excess | Philadelphia, PA | $1,211,948 | 2025 | — |
| Milford Food Bank | Milford, IN | $1,021,116 | 2025 | — |
| Utah Food Bank | West Valley City, UT | $959,808 | 2025 | — |
| Food Bank of the Rockies | Grand Junction, CO | $954,410 | 2025 | — |
| Monte Sion Center | Los Angeles, CA | $886,819 | 2025 | — |
| Rick Caywood Ministries | Crawford, TX | $727,088 | 2025 | — |
| Harry Chapin Food Bank FL | Fort Myers, FL | $718,467 | 2025 | — |
| Blessings of Hope | Leola, PA | $663,610 | 2025 | — |
| BMore Community Food | Baltimore, MD | $624,206 | 2025 | — |
| Operation Food Search | Saint Louis, MO | $563,731 | 2025 | — |
| Community Food Share | Louisville, CO | $556,326 | 2025 | — |
| Volunteers for Public Service VPS | Hemet, CA | $540,052 | 2025 | — |
| Alameda County Community Food Bank | Oakland, CA | $509,600 | 2025 | — |
| River City Church | Boise, ID | $477,502 | 2025 | — |
| Community Action Services | Provo, UT | $476,933 | 2025 | — |
| The Food Depot | Santa Fe, NM | $460,690 | 2025 | — |
| Forgotten Harvest | Oak Park, MI | $417,908 | 2025 | — |
| Move for Hunger | Neptune, NJ | $409,622 | 2025 | — |
| Pallets of Love | Idaho Falls, ID | $399,205 | 2025 | — |
| EpicCure | Palatka, FL | $395,970 | 2025 | — |
| Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange | Irvine, CA | $395,058 | 2025 | — |
| Farmlink Project | New York, NY | $377,342 | 2025 | — |
| Farmlink Project | New York, NY | $377,342 | 2025 | — |
| Table to Table | Saddle Brook, NJ | $330,213 | 2025 | — |
| Harvest Against Hunger | Seattle, WA | $328,188 | 2025 | — |
| California Emergency Foodlink | Sacramento, CA | $306,857 | 2025 | — |
| Society of St Andrew | Big Island, VA | $268,401 | 2025 | — |
| Idaho Food Bank | Meridian, ID | $248,411 | 2025 | — |
| Hungry for Christ | Hamilton, MI | $237,484 | 2025 | — |
| Conscious Alliance | Longmont, CO | $233,514 | 2025 | — |
Hands of Hope
$11,771,179El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Ban
$7,864,514Arm Full of Help
$2,910,957Inspired Vision Compassion Center
$2,894,259Goodness Project
$2,868,905Caywood Ministries
$2,299,630Agape Distribution
$1,790,389Restoration Bridge International I
$1,672,136JEE Foods
$1,538,158Helping Hands Society of Los Angele
$1,507,147Rick Caywood Ministries
$727,088Blessings of Hope
$663,610BMore Community Food
$624,206Volunteers for Public Service VPS
$540,052River City Church
$477,502Pallets of Love
$399,205