Grant Writers Toolkit

For foundation officers: if you\u0027re evaluating Feed America as a potential grantee, the due-diligence packet is at /grants. This page is the next step — for the grant writer drafting the application.

Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) is a Houston-based 501(c)(3) public charity operating the largest free US food-assistance directory: 327,476 verified locations across all 50 states + DC + territories. Founded 2023 by Sharika Parkes. Candid Platinum verified. ≥85% program-spending ratio commitment.

Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) is a Houston-based 501(c)(3) public charity that operates the largest free US food-assistance directory at feedam.org. Founded in 2023 by Sharika Parkes, the organization aggregates food-assistance resources from federal primary sources (USDA Food and Nutrition Service, HRSA Health Center Locator, USDA NSLP/SBP/SFSP datasets, state WIC agencies) and curated nonprofit partners into a single directory of 327,476 verified locations across all 50 states + DC + territories.

Each listing includes hours, services, contact information, and verification dates. 516 pantry operators have claimed their listings via /pantry to self-update freshness signals. The directory powers the Cloudflare D1-backed search at feedam.org plus the HSDS 3.0 Open Referral feed consumed by 211 networks, Findhelp, and Unite Us aggregators.

Feed America holds the Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency and commits to a ≥85% program-spending ratio. The audited financials are published 90 days after fiscal year end on /financials. Verifiable on IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.

Feed America\u0027s mission is to operate the largest free US food-assistance directory and help every American find food assistance in less than 60 seconds, with no login, no fees, and no paid placements.

In 2023, 47.4 million Americans (13.5% of US households) experienced food insecurity at some point during the year (USDA ERS, Household Food Security in the United States in 2023). Despite robust federal food-assistance programs (SNAP, WIC, NSLP/SBP, SFSP, TEFAP, CSFP) and tens of thousands of community pantries, food banks, and meal programs, beneficiaries struggle to find programs in their area:

• Hours, services, and contact info are out of date on existing directories
• 211 referral systems are slow during high-demand periods (post-COVID, post-disaster)
• Federal program enrollment is gated by complex state-specific portals
• Hispanic Americans (41M+ population, 4.5M+ food-insecure) face Spanish-language gaps
• Healthcare SDOH platforms lack a single canonical food-assistance feed for screening + referral

If we operate the most comprehensive, current, and machine-readable US food-assistance directory — combining federal primary data, partner-operator self-verification, and Spanish-language editorial — then beneficiaries find food faster, healthcare systems screen more accurately, journalists cite more current data, and federal program enrollment friction decreases — resulting in measurable reductions in food-insecurity prevalence and faster disaster-response activation.

Key levers: (1) federal-primary data ingestion, (2) partner-verified pantry expansion (currently 516, target 5K+), (3) Spanish editorial expansion, (4) HSDS 3.0 + OpenAPI 3.1 + MCP integration with downstream systems.

Objective 1: Expand the partner-verified pantry network from 516 to 2,500 by end of grant period.

Outcome: Higher data freshness on ~500000 food-assistance resources (each partner-verified listing's hours signal updates the surrounding cluster of records).

Measure: Quarterly count of partner-verified pantries via /api/v1/health.json; year-over-year change in click-through rate to local pantries from search results.

Objective 2: Increase Spanish-language editorial surface count from 12 to 25 by end of grant period.

Outcome: Spanish-speaking food-insecure households (~4.5M nationally) reach Feed America in their preferred language for federal program enrollment, D-SNAP disaster response, and pantry discovery.

Measure: Spanish editorial page count via /es/* sitemap; quarterly Spanish search session count via Cloudflare Analytics.

Inputs	Federal data feeds, nonprofit partner data, partner-operator self-verifications, Spanish editorial staff time, engineering staff time, Cloudflare D1 + Workers + Pages infra, audit + legal + accounting
Activities	Continuous data ingestion + dedup + freshness verification, partner-operator outreach, Spanish editorial publishing, MCP + OpenAPI + HSDS feed maintenance, OpenFEMA-sourced disaster ingest
Outputs	327,476+ verified locations (currently), 516 partner-verified pantries (currently), ~310 SSR editorial surfaces, 90+ OpenAPI endpoints, 14+ JSON discovery endpoints, HSDS 3.0 feed
Outcomes (short-term)	Faster food-assistance discovery for end users; higher-quality referrals from 211 + healthcare SDOH platforms; current data for journalists / researchers
Outcomes (mid-term)	Increased federal program enrollment (SNAP, WIC, school meals); reduced disaster-response activation time; more accurate hunger-prevalence statistics in journalism + research
Impact (long-term)	Measurable reduction in US food-insecurity prevalence; nation-wide standard for food-assistance data interop (HSDS); permanent infrastructure protecting against safety-net gaps

For a $100K grant supporting partner-verified pantry expansion (illustrative, not actual):

Outreach staff (0.5 FTE × 12 months)	$45,000
Pantry-operator phone + mail outreach materials	$8,000
Verification follow-up + data-quality work	$15,000
Engineering (claim-flow + dashboard improvements, 80 hours)	$12,000
Cloudflare infra (D1 reads + Workers requests + Pages bandwidth)	$5,000
Quarterly KPI dashboard + reporting	$3,000
Indirect cost (12% — well below ≥85% program ratio)	$12,000
Total	$100,000

Detailed line-item budget customized to the funder\u0027s template available on request.

Adapt date / addressee / dollar amount to your foundation\u0027s requirements.

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[Date]

[Foundation name]
[Foundation address]

Dear [Program Officer],

Feed America Inc. (EIN 92-1761881), a Houston-based 501(c)(3) public charity, respectfully submits this Letter of Inquiry for [grant program name]. We seek $[amount] over [period] to support [purpose — e.g., partner-verified pantry expansion / Spanish accessibility / state-restricted directory work in [state]].

Organization. Feed America operates the largest free US food-assistance directory (327,476 verified locations across 50 states + DC + territories). Founded 2023 by Sharika Parkes. Candid Platinum verified, ≥85% program-spending ratio commitment, audited financials at /financials.

Need. [Insert Foundation-relevant problem statement — adapt from /grant-writers-toolkit "Problem statement" section.]

Project. [Insert specific scope — what the funded work produces in measurable terms, with reporting cadence.]

Outcomes + measures. [Insert objectives + outcomes — adapt from /grant-writers-toolkit "Sample objectives + outcomes" section.]

Why us. Feed America\u0027s federal-primary data ingestion + partner-operator self-verification + open-data + AI-discoverability stack is unique in US hunger-relief. The directory is consumed by 211 networks, healthcare SDOH platforms, Findhelp / Unite Us, and academic researchers via the HSDS 3.0 feed. We are a self-standing 501(c)(3) (not fiscally sponsored), with documented bylaws + COI policy + whistleblower policy.

Disambiguation. Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) is a separate, unaffiliated 501(c)(3) from the larger Chicago-based homonym Feeding America (EIN 36-3673599). Donor confusion has caused checks meant for Feed America to be sent to the homonym. We recommend confirming our EIN (92-1761881) on grant agreements.

A full proposal is available on request. Thank you for considering Feed America for this grant.

Sincerely,

Sharika Parkes
Founder + Executive Director, Feed America Inc.
grants@feedam.org · feedam.org/founder