Ways To Give
Donate
For every $1 donated to the Food Bank, we can provide up to five meals or 8 pounds of food.
Make a difference for our neighbors facing hunger. When you donate to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, 95% of your investment goes toward our programs. Your gift is tax-deductible and helps us create healthier communities for our neighbors in need of food assistance. In 2024, we distributed 11.08 million pounds of food annually through our network of agency partners in Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaPorte, Marshall, St. Joseph and Starke counties – the equivalent of up to 8,658,008 meals for hungry neighbors.
Give Food
Ongoing food donations provided by individuals and groups have an immediate impact for our partner agencies by filling these pantries, soup kitchens and shelters with much-needed shelf-stable food items and supplies.
Food & Funds Drives
Hosting a Food or Food and Funds Drive at your place of employment, school, church or neighborhood helps us restock our shelves and makes a direct impact in our communities. Call the Food Bank at 574-232-9986 ext. 129.
Volunteer
Individual and group volunteers are vital to the Food Bank’s operation. Research shows volunteering improves one’s mental, emotional and physical health. In 2024, 9,891 volunteers donated 25,630 hours to the Food Bank. We need you to help us feed hungry neighbors.
Other Ways to Give
Surplus Food
If you are a grower, distributor, manufacturer or retailer, let’s talk. The Food Bank would welcome your surplus perishable and nonperishable food, cleaning products and personal care items. These donations help the Food Bank’s partner agencies feed hungry neighbors in our six-county service area. Contact Bob Wieneke, Director of Food Sourcing, at bwieneke@feedindiana.org or 574.232.9986, ext. 135.
Estate Planning/Capital Giving
Define your legacy by including the Food Bank of Northern Indiana in your estate planning.
Consider a Bequest/Deferred Gift
Gifts through your will can be a particular item or a percentage of your estate. Gifts can be contingent (passing on to us only if another beneficiary dies before you) or in trust, providing income to your spouse or children before passing for the Food Bank’s benefit.
Give Life Insurance
Name the Food Bank of Northern Indiana as a beneficiary of an insurance policy on your life or contribute to an old policy that you no longer need.
Leave Financial Accounts
You can indicate that savings, CDs or other financial accounts, including IRAs, will be payable to the Food Bank upon your death. Ask your account custodian for details. Bequests of IRAs save significant taxes.
Include the Food Bank in Your Revocable Trust
Lifetime trusts (revocable living trusts) relieve the property owner of management responsibilities, reduce probate costs, afford privacy and can be changed without the formalities of a will. You can include the Food Bank as a beneficiary of your revocable trust.
A planned gift to the Food Bank is best made with the counsel of your financial advisor, attorney, accountant, banker, financial planner or insurance professional.
The Food Bank of Northern Indiana does not share or sell its donor list.
