On May 14th CFF partnered with The Posner Foundation and Kenneth Goldman Donor Fund to host a briefing titled Food Waste Reduction.
The session focused on the issue of food waste in America, where over 40% of all food is wasted, and specifically how philanthropy can play a role in helping to turn the tide. We heard from ReFED and NRDC about the efforts they are involved in both locally and nationally, and the different coalitions of practitioners and funders coming together to address the problem.
Hana Uman of Posner Foundation and Barbara Greenberg of Kenneth Goldman Donor Fund co-hosted the meeting, and opened by sharing their foundations’ work with food waste and why they are interested to bring this to more people.
From there we heard from our two speakers, Alejandro Enamorado of ReFED and Andrea Collins of NRDC, who offered an overview of the food waste issue in America, and it impacts so many other arenas such as climate, hunger, and the economy.
Alejandro then went deeper into the work of ReFED, a nonprofit dedicated to ending food loss and waste by advancing data-driven solutions. He offered a landscape assessment of where different types of work is happening, and strategically where capital and grant funding could be applied to have significant impact. He emphasized that private capital has concentrated in larger companies, which offered an opportunity for philanthropy to focus on localized solutions.
Andrea rounded out the presentations by talking about NRDC’s interest in this work, and how they approach the problem. She highlighted different policy initiatives, coalition-building efforts, public education campaigns, and toolkits available to folks who want to get involved. These are listed in the resources section below.
The session closed with a robust question and answer segment. For folks looking to learn more and connect with others in the space, we recommend considering attendance at the 2024 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit, June 11-13 in Baltimore.
The slides used are visible in the video below, but you can also download the presentation here, as well as the speaker bios. See below for additional resources mentioned and shared as part of this meeting.
- Start: Welcome and intro by Adam Liebowitz, CFF Director
- 3:00 – Funder intro Barbara & Hana
- 7:20 – Food Waste 101 by Alejandro & Andrea (10:10 Andrea)
- 16:40 – ReFED (barriers to solutions, where funding is needed)
- 32:50 – NRDC
- 50:50 – Q&A
Resources
- ReFED catalytic grant fund
- Achieving Zero Food Waste: A State Policy Toolkit
- 2024 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit, June 11-13 in Baltimore
- The Farmlink Project
- ReFED Food Waste Funder Circle
- Cast Studies from the Pacific Coast Collaborative
- Report: Opportunities to Reduce Food Waste in the 2023 Farm Bill