How many meals does a dollar provide?

"$1 = 10 meals" is a common food-charity claim. Here's the actual math + why our numbers are different.

The "$1 = X meals" multiplier — where it comes from

Major food banks calculate it from aggregate distribution / aggregate revenue. They count donated food at retail price ($3.50/meal estimate from USDA) and divide by total cash + in-kind revenue. The multiplier varies wildly by bank — 4-12 meals/dollar.

Why we don't claim a meal multiplier

Feed America operates a search platform, not a food bank. We don't distribute meals. Claiming "$1 = X meals" would be misleading because:

• We don't have a food-distribution program — we send people to food banks via search
• Our value is in the connection between hungry families and existing food resources, not in food production or distribution
• If we counted "meals enabled by our search" we'd need detailed user-outcome tracking that we don't (and won't) collect

What a $1 donation actually does for Feed America

• Pays for ~30 minutes of Cloudflare D1 query capacity — at our scale (~6K queries/min during peak), $1 keeps the platform alive for ~30 mins
• Funds verification of ~10 records — staff time + cross-checking against federal sources
• Refreshes data in 1-2 ZIP codes — quarterly USDA SNAP retailer pull + reconciliation

If you want the meal multiplier

Donate to a local food bank in your area — they actually distribute food. Find yours: /food-pantry

Or donate to Feed America to fund the platform that helps people find those food banks. Donate →