July 27, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Food banks, attempting to keep their shelves stocked as donations from manufacturers and retailers decline nationwide, are raising money to buy more food —and are at risk of “losing their business model at best, and shifting it at worst,” writes Carla E. Dearing in the PhilanthroMedia blog.
Ms. Dearing, chief executive of Community Foundations of America, cites a May article in The Wall Street Journal, which reported that “…food banks are seeking ways to raise money to buy more food. They are also looking for new types of food, including perishables. Some food banks are hiring trucks to pick up food directly from farms.”
The situation “sounds like prime territory for a series of social business enterprises between the food banks and the big retailers to me,” writes Ms. Dearing, who adds, “Granted, this is an easy enough call from the armchair, I hope the experts will weigh in.”
Should food banks enter into social-business enterprises in order to further their mission of feeding the hungry? Weigh in by clicking on the comment button below.
—Heather Joslyn
