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Top 10 Hunger Nonprofits

Top 10 hunger nonprofitsAccording to the World Food Programme, some 815 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy and active life, with a vast majority of the world’s hungry people living in developing countries. With many governments struggling to provide aid to their citizens and a calculated $3.2 billion needed per year to start reaching children across the world, many individuals have banded together to bring about change on their own. These top 10 hunger nonprofits have started making a change in the world in the hopes of ending world hunger once and for all.

List of Top 10 Hunger Nonprofits

  1. A Growing Culture: This organization works to boost farmer independence by providing them with the means to adapt to change. It also helps farmers in having a say in the system, something that they currently lack because of industrial farming. A Growing Culture has been working on creating a farmer networking program to connect agriculture enthusiasts from around the world to boost innovative ideas and creating a lasting food system for all.
  2. Bioversity International: This research nonprofit works on saving agricultural and tree biodiversity in order to improve nutrition security as well as to fight climate change. The Bioversity International is a part of an international food security research partnership and works with low-income countries to work on food management practices and new policies to protect biodiversity within their nation.
  3. Community Alliance with Family Farmers: This organization focuses on farming and food systems through many grassroots programs. It tackles current challenges to the food system and supports family farmers and those who live in low-income populations. As an organization, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers tries its best to uphold sustainability within food and farming systems.
  4. Agricultural Biodiversity Community: Made up of more than 100 individuals and organizations, the Agricultural Biodiversity Community shares the idea that agricultural biodiversity can save the world. By utilizing conservation techniques and the development of food security in many regions, this organization seeks to enhance food security on a global scale.
  5. Green Shoots Foundation: Based in six different countries in Asia, the Green Shoots Foundation aims to improve healthcare and education through a program called the Food and Agriculture and Social Entrepreneurship program. These programs combine agriculture, peer education and community building to help communities in Asia create a better future for all.
  6. Groundswell International: As one of the top 10 hunger nonprofits, Groundswell International is unique in that it is a global partnership consisting of multiple nonprofits, local organizations and communities that all work to combat food insecurity. It also works to improve and start healthy food systems in many low-income countries and teaches new farming techniques to help improve community health.
  7. Heifer International: This global nonprofit aims to erase poverty through community development. It helps train families in sustainable food practices and its goal is to increase self-reliance among families. From teaching environmentally friendly farming techniques to helping families improve their lives, Heifer International is an effective organization.
  8. IFOAM Organics International: At the center of the organic movement worldwide is the IFOAM organization. IFOAM’s goal is to improve transparency with organic standards and balance local adaption and food diversity. Operating in over 100 countries worldwide, IFOAM is a force to be reckoned with.
  9. INGA Foundation: The Inga alley cropping is an alternative to the slash and burn agriculture practice that the INGA Foundation teaches to farmers and communities globally. This practice restores degraded land and protects rainforests from destruction. Soil fertility is retained and trees also benefit from this method of agriculture.
  10. Kiss the Ground: With the mission statement “We can do this!”, Kiss the Ground tries to balance climate using technology and science and its goal is to recreate the food system. Every initiative this organization starts is based on a message of a hopeful future.

The top 10 hunger nonprofits all have a similar goal: to end world hunger. Stopping world hunger isn’t easy but these organizations have taken on the challenge and work tirelessly for a better future. We need more individuals and organizations to do the same.

– Michael Huang
Photo: Flickr

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The Science of Organization: Ending Hunger in India

Hunger in India
Despite achieving economic growth, hunger in India continues to impact close to 15 percent of the country with 194.6 million people considered malnourished. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations found that India is officially the hungriest country in the world by population as of 2015.

However, a solution may be on the horizon thanks to technological innovation in the form of inventory management software. These new logistics programs can help cut down on the amount of food wasted in order to more efficiently allocate resources to those in need.

Up to 40 percent of fruits and vegetables, as well as 20 percent of grains never reach the hungry mouths of the Indian people due to meager infrastructure in food storage facilities. On top of driving hunger in India, this wasted food also has adverse effects on the environment.

Garbage dumps full of unused food release millions of tons of excess methane gas, polluting the air and harming India’s natural landscape. Additionally, there are billions of gallons of wasted water, as it is needed to cultivate the food that ends up in these garbage dumps.

This is an especially devastating loss considering that India, which contains 17 percent of the Earth’s population, barely has access to 4 percent of the world’s freshwater resources.

An official from Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Data told the Times of India, “Reducing food waste would have a game-changing impact on the natural resource depletion and degradation, food insecurity, national security and climate change.”

Inventory management software can amend this situation in a variety of ways and hosts many great features that can aid any food retailer small or large. A system that is working well can help keep track of not only what is in stock but also what needs to be ordered and when it will arrive.

Dollar-control systems show profit margins on any item in an inventory as well as utilizing unit-control systems to keep detailed information on different food products cataloged and easily accessible.

All of this makes it easier to not only anticipate a deficit or surplus of product categories but also to have orders ready to arrive when needed as well. Deskera, a cloud-based software company, has confirmed in a study that small and large businesses could implement this type of software to reduce waste, hoarding and even discourage the need for black-market trading.

Technology comes in many forms and does not have to be complex or costly to combat hunger in India or the rest of the world. Affordable technologies such as inventory management software can be easily implemented to create major change in the way Indians manage, distribute and cultivate their food.

– Aaron Walsh

Photo: Flickr

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Darden Harvest Aims to Put an End to Hunger


Darden Restaurants, owner of restaurants like Olive Garden and Red Lobster, believes people are their most valuable resource. That being said, they have dedicated much of their time and money to helping end world hunger and poverty.

Their program, Darden Harvest, coordinates food donations to food banks and other charitable organizations across the country.

How it works:
When leftover foods from restaurants are not served to guests, it is packaged, frozen and stored in the restaurant. Nonprofit organizations travel to these restaurants weekly to pick up the food and then donate it to food banks.

The food is then served to those in need in the community. Throughout this process, the quality and safety of the food is ensured by Darden Restaurants’ employees.

What is donated?
Darden Restaurants focuses on donating foods that have a positive impact on health. Twenty-eight percent of the foods donated are vegetables, 27 percent are proteins, 19 percent are soups, 18 percent are pastas and breads, and eight percent are other food items and desserts.

Community Impact:
Since it started in 2003, Darden Harvest has donated more than six million pounds of surplus food to families in need, which is the equivalent of 89 million meals served. Nearly 49 million Americans suffer from hunger, with over 165 million dollars’ worth of food being thrown into landfills each year.

Every year, Darden Harvest observes World Food Day by positively impacting the lives of underprivileged people through food donations. In their 2013 fiscal year, Darden Restaurants donated over 11 million pounds of food to hunger-ridden families.

Darden Restaurants’ team of over 200,000 members has contributed to ending hunger. Just last month, Darden Restaurants created a program to help people feed their families during the busy school semester with their “Buy one, take one” program, which allows families to purchase one meal and take another one home to serve on another night.

– Julia Hettiger

Sources: CNN, Darden, Fool
Photo: Examiner