https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlFTXL6_SZ0
No Kid Hungry
2023 Annual Report
Every Kid. Healthy Food.
Dear friends,
During the pandemic, we saw people come together to help children when families were struggling. We put programs into place that brought the child poverty rate in this country to a record low.
But as the pandemic receded, our Congressional leaders let many of those programs expire. As a result, childhood hunger surged. Today, as many as 13 million children in the United States are living with hunger.
But I’m not ready to give up. We can feed kids in this country. I’ve seen the proof.
For years, our team pushed to improve meals programs during the summer, when childhood hunger is at its highest. We succeeded. Today, there’s a new federal program to help families buy food during the summer – and rural communities can now offer meals through delivery and pick-up services, instead of requiring children to travel to the sites where the meals are served.
Together, these new programs could help more than 30 million children in the United States.
At the same time, we’re expanding our efforts beyond meals programs and addressing the root causes of childhood hunger, investing in programs that help put families on a path to economic stability – especially families led by single mothers.
At Share Our Strength, this has been our calling for 40 years – and we’ve seen so much positive change. The work we do through our No Kid Hungry campaign and other efforts will make a tangible difference in the lives of kids.
Thank you for your continued support and your belief in our work. Together, we can help change the trajectory of millions of kids in our country. I’m hoping we can count on you.
Sincerely,
Chief Executive Officer, Share Our Strength
Anne Filipic
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Impact Highlights - July 2022 to June 2023
29
Billion
We achieved a historic victory when Congress allocated $29 billion for childhood nutrition programs. These new policies could feed tens of millions of kids during the summer.
Ending Summer Hunger by Advocating for Kids
Just 13% of kids who receive free meals during the school year have access to them in the summer months. The need is especially acute in rural communities, where children may live far away from free meals served at schools and community centers.
But thanks to years of effort from our network of advocates and donors, in December 2022, Congress invested $29 billion to close this summer gap – a huge victory for kids.
A new federal program will help families buy food during the summer, enabling more kids to get the dependable, healthy nutrition they need. Another new policy creates opportunities for rural communities to offer meals through delivery and pick-up services, instead of requiring children to travel to the sites where the meals are served.
Together, these new programs could help more than 30 million children in the United States.
“Before the new rules, the kids were required to eat their food at the place where you gave it to them,” said Howard Chafin, a food bank volunteer in rural Virginia. “A lot of times that’s not feasible. It’s really made a difference in the number of kids we can feed during the summer.”
This advocacy win is a huge step toward ending summer hunger, but the real work starts now. With millions of children facing hunger across the nation, ending summer hunger is one of our top priorities. With support from our donors, we’re ensuring that communities have the necessary funding and support to feed the children who need it.
How Summer Hunger Affects American Families
”Let’s say I was learning my numbers - if I ate vegetables, my mind would grow, and I’d think what number goes next.
Addison - age 6
Impact Highlights - July 2022 to June 2023
504
Last school year, No Kid Hungry’s local partners served more than 504 million healthy meals to kids and families.
940
We secured over $940 million in federal funding to help states expand their school meals availability - helping kids, families and schools nationwide.
How We’re Helping Feed Kids at School
As communities continue to rebound from the pandemic, we’re helping schools rebuild their breakfast programs while increasing the number of children who qualify for free school meals.
We’re also encouraging policymakers to expand these programs, and we’re continuing to provide grant funding for needed equipment – from refrigerators to breakfast carts and more.
Thanks to your support, districts like San Antonio Independent School District in Texas have been able to experiment with new programs, increasing the number of kids eating school meals.
“Second chance breakfast is a model that we offer at our high schools,” said Jenny Arredondo, who leads school nutrition in San Antonio schools. “A No Kid Hungry grant helped sponsor kiosks to help us put mobile stations throughout the campuses. This has enabled us to reach more students on a daily basis.”
Through our No Kid Hungry campaign, we’ve helped schools and communities across the country feed millions of kids, enabling far more children to eat healthy meals at school.
”Food helps us stay awake and keep our energy up throughout the day. It gives us the nutrients we need for whatever we're doing.
Madianna - age 14
Overcoming the Root Causes of Hunger
Not every family has the same opportunities in the United States. Black and Latino Americans, along with people who live in rural areas, sometimes face unfair barriers that cause them to experience greater rates of hunger.
Share Our Strength recognizes that we can’t permanently end childhood hunger in the United States without helping to address the “root causes” of hunger – from jobs that pay low wages to the high cost and inaccessibility of healthy foods, along with other systemic issues. Today, we’re funding organizations that are helping families become more financially secure – with a focus on single mothers.
- Through our work with these grantees, we helped unlock $17 million in tax credits for families this past year.
- To help families better understand how to access benefits, we provided guidance to 2,112 organizations and approximately 3 million people.
- Working together with Code for America, we enlisted agencies in 30 states to join a national outreach program that led to 30,000 families claiming $42 million of benefits for which they were eligible.
- Our state advocacy work, along with our support of child tax credits, led to $1.4 billion in meals, services and benefits for families.
With the support of our donors, we’ll continue to fund local organizations across the country that are tackling these underlying issues and advancing the economic interests of working people.
Advancing Equity in Our Work
Nefertiri Sickout
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Building a nation where food is available in every community requires weaving equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into our work. Here’s a short Q&A with Nefertiri Sickout, our senior vice president for EDI, with more about this topic.
How do our EDI commitments affect the work we do to feed children?
Through our work, we intentionally invest in and advocate for communities with the highest need, including those that are under-resourced; rural areas where members experience intersecting social and environmental inequities; and communities where 50% or more of the population identifies as Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous Peoples, Asian, Hawaiian Native or Pacific Islander.
How have our EDI commitments changed the ways we talk about our work?
Words, language and imagery have power! We’re integrating a “strength-based framing” approach to tell stories about hunger and the communities we work alongside. We engage the children and families we feature as partners in the process, and we ensure our stories elevate their aspirations and don’t contribute to harmful cultural narratives or stereotypes. When community members’ stories are told with dignity and respect, we can help change public perceptions, leading to more support for our policy solutions.
Impact Highlights - July 2022 to June 2023
2500
Our partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) helped us train over 2,500 pediatricians on how to screen families for food insecurity and connect them with federal nutrition programs like SNAP and WIC.
How Partnerships Help Us Feed More Kids
Millions of families in the United States rely on assistance programs that help parents feed their children – programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
But these programs can’t help kids if they’re not enrolled.
Last year, we teamed up with the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), a group that represents the government agencies that administer programs like SNAP and WIC. Our goal is to improve the systems that children rely on – and help more families enroll for benefits.
To date, our partnership with APHSA has helped us get 54,000 families signed up for SNAP and WIC benefits.
For example, in New Mexico, we found that the two programs were administered by separate agencies, using different criteria and systems. To fix that, we provided grant funding and brought in technology and policy experts to help the state agencies revamp their systems. As a result, over 12,000 more families have signed up for WIC in New Mexico.
Today we’re working with groups like APHSA all over the country, from the National Immigration Law Center to the Coalition of Community Schools, finding new ways to reach more kids and families.
Leveraging and Building Networks
Our work isn’t about always knowing the right answer, but about bringing together the right people to build solutions to end child hunger. Read some of the stories of our work below.
Donor Spotlight
As the CEO of Tricolor Holdings, Daniel Chu spends a lot of time thinking about how to meet the needs of people when those needs have been overlooked by others. His company provides banking and credit services to under-resourced communities – specifically Latino and immigrant communities.
This sense of mission drew Daniel and his wife Constance to support our work in Texas – the idea of earning the trust of a community by serving them. They were also drawn to our focus on changing systems by leveraging public institutions and funds, not just helping people through emergencies.
“What really resonated with us about No Kid Hungry was that, at the core, we know that essential needs have to be met in order for other things – like education – to be realistic,” he said. “If their nutritional needs aren’t met, young people can’t achieve their potential – academically or in life.”
Constance agreed. “You’re doing more than feeding kids, you’re serving the community,” she said. “You’re going deep into the root of the hunger problem.”
Chefs as Champions
Chefs like Kwame Onwuachi play a vital role in advancing the work of Share Our Strength and the No Kid Hungry campaign, tirelessly advocating for healthy food for all children.
Onwuachi, driven by personal experience, stresses the urgent need to address childhood hunger in America. His connection to No Kid Hungry stems from a past marked by hunger. Reflecting on his upbringing, he recalls nights of going to bed hungry – and the lifeline that programs like school lunches provided.
”When I found out about No Kid Hungry and what they do, I felt a profound sense of relief. Finally, there is a dedicated group of people committed to ending childhood hunger in America.
Kwame OnwuachiAward-winning chef
How Mayors Are Helping Kids
Share Our Strength continued to harness the power of mayors across the country this past year. Over 300 mayors from all 50 states joined the Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger – a group that now represents 99 million Americans.
In addition to doubling its membership, the Alliance secured 11 commitments from mayors to support the White House’s new national strategy on hunger. The group also mobilized mayors to advocate for state policies in New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan that helped more kids get meals at school.
The new chair, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome (Baton Rouge, LA) and new Vice-Chair, Mayor Mattie Parker (Fort Worth, TX) are already building momentum for the year ahead. Their priorities include elevating the group with other mayoral organizations, elected officials and media to solidify the Mayors Alliance as a critical partner in feeding more kids.
Encourage your mayor to visit MayorsHungerAlliance.org and join this coalition of advocates.
Reaching More Kids From Latino and Immigrant Families
Today, a quarter of children in the United States live in families that include at least one immigrant parent – and most of them were born in the United States (87%). But many of these children are missing out on the meals and other benefits they are eligible for, because of fear over anti-immigrant policies or lack of effective outreach.
To better reach these kids, we’re partnering with trusted groups that serve the Latino community:
- We’re supporting culturally-responsive awareness campaigns to reach Latino families in states like Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Texas.
- We’re reaching millions of Latino households through national media like Univision and iHeart Radio to spread the word about everything from summer meals sites to SNAP eligibility – while assuring parents that participating in meals programs won’t jeopardize the immigration status of family members.
- We work with a wide network of Latino and immigrant-serving organizations, including the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Catholic Charities and UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino nonprofit advocacy organization.
- We joined the National Immigration Law Center on a research project to improve outreach to immigrant communities.
”If you’re not eating school food or you're not eating any food at all, you’re going to be completely drained of energy and school is just going to be you focusing on the fact that you need something in your system.
Steffany - age 12
Leave a Lasting Legacy to End Childhood Hunger
Throughout your life, there are moments when you pause to reflect on what you’ve achieved and what you hope to accomplish. You’ll think about the legacy you’ll leave behind and how it can embody your values.
You can make ending childhood hunger part of your legacy by designating a charitable gift to No Kid Hungry. You will ensure children for generations to come will get the meals they need to grow and thrive.
To learn more and access valuable planning resources, visit NoKidHungry.org/Legacy
Thanks to Our Corporate Partners
As the leading partner of the No Kid Hungry campaign, Citi has supported our mission to end childhood hunger in America for ten years. Citi has donated over $30 million since the beginning of our partnership in 2014, which is enough to help provide over 300 million meals* to kids in need. Citi engages its broad network throughout the year via compelling campaigns like Dine and Do Good, Giving Tuesday and the Citi Community Home Runs program with the New York Mets, all of which raise crucial awareness and the critical funds needed to support our work and help end childhood hunger in America.
A partner of No Kid Hungry since 2011, the Arby’s Foundation continues to be a leader in our fight to end childhood hunger. Stepping up to help achieve “every kid, healthy food, every day,” the Arby’s Foundation galvanizes their network to raise crucial funds and awareness while inspiring new audiences to have a meaningful impact on our mission. From in-restaurant fundraising to sponsoring and riding in Chefs Cycle to supporting our summer meals strategy, the Arby’s Foundation continues to further our work in innovative and diverse ways.
For almost two decades, the Walmart Foundation has been an instrumental funder for Share Our Strength and the No Kid Hungry campaign in our ongoing efforts to connect kids to meals across the country. Most recently, the Walmart Foundation has been supporting our ongoing efforts to identify best practices that allow organizations of all sizes to ensure kids and families have consistent access to meal programs that work best for them – particularly those facing systemic barriers.
Warner Bros. Discovery leverages its unparalleled catalog of beloved content to inspire and mobilize audiences to help end childhood hunger. In 2023, support included producing a PSA featuring Zachary Levi, star of Shazam! Fury of the Gods and the inclusion of No Kid Hungry as the beneficiary of “The Match:” a premier live golf event series, which featured Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. From putting greens to movie screens, Warner Bros. Discovery is dedicated to helping No Kid Hungry provide “every kid, healthy food, every day.”
Since 2011, Williams Sonoma has been a champion in the fight against childhood hunger, raising over $16 million for No Kid Hungry. Their innovative and creative campaign, Tools for Change, donates a percentage of every purchase of limited-edition spatulas designed by celebrities and chefs. It’s a powerful collaboration uniting resources and influence to reach a shared goal: “every kid, healthy food, every day.”
*Your donations help support programs that feed kids; No Kid Hungry does not provide individual meals. Learn more at NoKidHungry.org/OneDollar.
We Are Filled With Hope
We launched the No Kid Hungry campaign in 2010 and it soon became the focus of our work at Share Our Strength. Since then, we saw steady progress, as the childhood hunger rate dropped a little more each year.
But then came the COVID pandemic, along with nationwide school closures and job losses that hit struggling families hard. Today, childhood hunger has risen, affecting 13 million children in the United States, along with a rise in political discord and social division. The challenges seem overwhelming.
They are not.
Instead, we are filled with hope.
Because we have seen, time and again, that childhood hunger is a problem that can be solved. Our strategies work – from summer meals to breakfast served in school classrooms to assistance programs for children and families. When we fund these programs and support communities, every child gets the food they need.
And when that happens? The sky’s the limit.
Your support and your commitment has meant the world – and we intend to ask more of you in the year ahead. There will come a day, sooner than we imagine, when no child goes hungry in this country. We’ll get there together.
Financials
Fiscal Year 2023
(July 1, 2022–June 30, 2023)
Every dollar donors contribute goes to the work of helping feed kids. Some of it goes directly to the programs at the core of our mission, while some goes to make that work possible through fundraising, advocacy and outreach.
Click our financials to expand the details.
Although FY23 expenses exceed revenues, this reflects the strategic use of funding from our generous donors during the height of the pandemic; we continue to use those donations to fund meals programs and other work across the country. Use of these funds support Share Our Strength’s entire mission and are aligned with donor intent and any associated restrictions.
Community Wealth Partners
Community Wealth Partners is an independent consulting firm founded by Share Our Strength to help other nonprofits and foundations achieve their missions. Donations made to Share Our Strength and the No Kid Hungry campaign do not fund the work of Community Wealth Partners; their work is funded through fees from their clients.