Link2Feed’s food bank software helped The Inn of the Good Shepherd dispel myths and increase fundraising by 46%.
Food bank stigma inhibits growth
An integrated service provider, The Inn of the Good Shepherd Food Bank (The Inn) services agencies and supports clients through housing and utility assistance, meal distribution and children’s programming.
Because of the 2008 financial crisis, the population requiring the Inn’s services significantly increased, while funding and community support remained flat. Through outreach activities, community feedback suggested a negative stigma around the population the Inn served, which led to waning community support.
“There was a long-held myth in the community, which many poverty relief organizations face, that our clients were on welfare and looking for handouts. Anecdotally, we knew this wasn’t true and that a lot of our clients were working households, many even dual-income families. We needed a solution to present accurate, valid data to our community to bust these myths and acquire the resources we needed during a period of growth.” – Myles Vanni, Executive Director, The Inn of the Good Shepherd.
Food bank software data reduces stigma and increases community support
The Inn implemented Link2Feed’s food bank software for their client data collection efforts and were able to use the reports to devise a communications strategy to help reduce stigma in the community.
Key findings supported anecdotal evidence and confirmed that 60% of clients were either working, facing a disability or were on a pension. The community specifically responded to information regarding the number of seniors and children who were being supported through the Inn’s services.
Link2Feed’s real-time reporting tools also gave the Inn access to timely information for donor and media presentations, which greatly enhanced communications efforts.
Historically high growth in funding
After the implementation of Link2Feed, The Inn saw a significant increase in third-party run fundraising events, corporate support and personal donations, which lead to a 46% increase in fundraising over a five-year period.
“Link2Feed shifted the tides for us. The level of accountability demonstrated through this data and the access to real time reporting redefined community perception and allowed us to approach a more sophisticated donor base. Over the past five years we have experienced the largest fundraising growth in our organization’s 34-year history and it’s largely due to the data and reporting (myth-busting) capabilities of Link2Feed. We have captured the hearts of our community, which has put us top-of-mind for donors.” – Myles Vanni, Executive Director, The Inn of the Good Shepherd.
