The Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is accepting grant applications to improve the distribution of edible, unsold food to feed people while reducing food going to waste.
Donor Name: Seattle Public Utilities
State: Washington
City: Seattle
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/26/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
This is one critical way of helping people have enough to eat while keeping valuable food out of compost and garbage collection. Studies show that food is the single largest material going to garbage from Seattle businesses and is a significant contributor to greenhouse gases. This grant will provide seed funding to test innovative approaches that could ultimately be scaled or replicated with private sector, nonprofit, or philanthropic funding.
Grant Program Objectives
- Support innovation in collecting and distributing unsold, edible food to people in need.
- Protect natural resources and the climate by reducing the amount of food going to waste.
- Demonstrate potential for wider adoption or replication that can be sustained without City funding.
Funding Information
- Grant requests may range from $50,000 to $100,000.
- Work must be completed within one year of the signed agreement.
Project Requirements
Projects must meet all the following requirements to be eligible:
- Activities must increase the quality or quantity of commercially donated or discounted food going to people in need while reducing overall food waste going into garbage or compost.
- The project must measure, collect, and make data available to show whether this approach reduced overall food waste for all involved parties.
- Activities must take place within Seattle city limits and benefit food access in Seattle.
- Project must clearly demonstrate a strong connection to reducing food waste going into Seattle’s waste stream; Seattle businesses with unsold, edible food; and residents of Seattle who could benefit from this food. Applicants may be located outside Seattle if the project still provides these same benefits.
- Project work must include development of a funding plan for how activities will be financially sustained without relying on City funding after the grant period ends.
- Activities must advance at least two of the following priorities:
- Innovation: Test or expand new approaches or technologies for distributing edible, unsold food from businesses.
- Scale of potential impact: Prototype a solution that builds in collaboration across entities, establishes standards to improve effectiveness across the City, and/or demonstrates how benefits can be replicated beyond the participating parties.
- Equity: Involve economic opportunities and participation by people, non-profit organizations, and businesses representing frontline community members (these include BIPOC communities, immigrants, refugees, youth, elders, people experiencing homelessness, formerly incarcerated people, disabled people, LGBTQ communities, people with low income, and people who work in outdoor occupations).
Eligibility Criteria
- Businesses
- Schools, colleges, and universities
- Nonprofits
- Institutions (such as health care or housing)
- Community and neighborhood groups
- Faith-based organizations.
For more information, visit SPU.
