Donate Money
Donate Food
Donate Electronics
FAQ

Ways to Give

Donate Money

Your monetary gift goes a long way.

Here, stewardship is one of our core values. It’s what enables us to provide 5 meals for every $1 donated. And it’s what ensures that 97% of all donations go directly to our anti-hunger programs. Donate via credit card, cash, or check. And feel great about helping feed our local community.

For more information on how your donations make an impact, examine our 990, our Annual Report, our audited financials, or see how we’re ranked on Charity Navigator.

Donate online

You can make a single donation or set up recurring donations through Network For Good.

Donate by mail

Send a check, cash, or this donation form complete with your credit card information, to: 1999 Mt. Read Boulevard, Rochester, NY 14615.

If you have collected donations on behalf of a group of individuals (up to 10) then please include clear instructions, names, and addresses for acknowledgement with your mailed in, or dropped off donation. For donations from groups of 11 or more people, please see these guidelines.

Give monthly

To join the group of Foodlink supporters who make a scheduled gift every month, complete the Automatic Giving Form and send it to our address referenced above. Please consider giving just $1 a day—or $30 a month—and help us build a hunger-free community. Monthly donations may also be set up via Network For Good.

Tribute gifts

Tribute gifts may be made in memory of someone, or to commemorate a holiday, birthday, wedding, or other special occasion. Foodlink will send a personalized letter to the person(s) you designate. Just complete and enclose the Foodlink Donation Form with your gift, and mail it to the address above.

Planned gifts

A planned gift to Foodlink helps ensure that we’ll have the means to combat hunger well into the future. Planned or deferred gifts can take many forms: life insurance proceeds, a portion of an estate, or income from a trust. Each type of planned gift provides unique tax benefits to the donor and his or her beneficiaries. Planned gifts should be arranged with the advice of your professional counsel.

Other ways to give:

Stocks

When you give stock to Foodlink you’re investing in the fight against hunger.

Workplace giving

Support our community through United Way’s Annual Campaign. The United Way respects your interests and will readily process your donation as you indicate on your pledge form. Please complete and return your pledge form to your workplace United Way representative. Support Foodlink by indicating ID #231 on your United Way pledge form!

For more information about United Way Donor Choice for Foodlink, contact Raven Magill at (585)328.3380 x127.

Please remember Foodlink for your United Way contribution, donation designation #231. Ask your United Way Representative for a donor designation form.

Contact our Development Coordinator:

Please read our FAQs before contacting Foodlink.

Raven Magill
Development Coordinator
1999 Mt. Read Boulevard
Rochester, NY 14615

(585)328.3380 x127

Important note: If you need to contact the Development Coordinator and are prompted to leave a voicemail. Please be as specific as possible in your message. Clearly state your name, phone number, address, amount of donation, to which address you sent it, and if possible the check # and what was included in the envelope’s contents.

Financial Conflict of Interest Policy available to PHS agencies upon written request.

Check Out Hunger

Every fall, you can help Foodlink by remembering to Check Out Hunger at participating retailers. Ask your cashier to scan a Check Out Hunger coupon worth $2, $3, or $5. Your donation of $5 provides 15 meals to the community.

2012 Check Out Hunger Participating Retailers:

Wegmans
Tops (1/27/13-2/16/13)
Abundance Cooperative Market
Big M-Clifton Springs
Breen’s Market-Williamson
Breen’s Market- Palmyra
Brick N Motor
Caledonia Marketplace
Dark Horse Coffee
Fett Svin BBQ
Hegedorn’s (2/15/13-3/15/13)
Herrema’s
Lori’s Natural Foods
Metro Market
Nick’s Superstore
Perry Food Market
Wade’s Market Center
West’s Shurfine -Honeoye
West’s Shurfine- Livonia

Check Out Hunger donations can also be made online here.

Donate Food

Fighting hunger with food.

We make it easy to make food donations, which, in turn, go to feed hundreds of thousands of individuals. We partner with over 450 hunger-relief agencies in the 10-county service area, distributing over 13 million pounds of food annually. Most of this food is donated from food manufacturers and retailers, through food drives, and by individual donation.

Hosting a Food Drive

If you are interested in hosting a food drive to support Foodlink please print off and submit the Food Drive Application. You can submit the application to Tim Scott, Volunteer Relations Coordinator via fax or email (both are listed on the application)

Food drive: Drop-off information

Collected items can be dropped off at our warehouse Monday through Friday from 8:30am until 4:30pm. Please contact Tim Scott at (585)328.3380 x160 to schedule an appointment. Foodlink is located at 1999 Mt. Read Blvd between Lexington and Ridgeway. Please park in the Visitors Lot. Our Main Entrance faces Mt. Read. Blvd.

Dropping off collected items is very much appreciated. By taking the time to deliver to our warehouse you save us the gas money needed to pick up your donation. The funds saved can be used to purchase much needed food items for our member agencies.

Annual local food drives

Canstruction

Held in November, Canstruction is an international charity competition where architects, engineers, contractors, and students compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food. At the close of the competition all of the food from the Rochester competition will be donated to the Foodlink. Special thanks to Canstruction coordinator Ken Glazer of Buckingham Properties. For more information on Canstruction, please visit www.canstruction.org

Food For Families

A partnership between Tops Friendly Markets and WROC-TV, Food For Families is the largest annual one-day event to obtain food and monetary donations for Foodlink. During the first week of December, Tops customers are encouraged to purchase “Little Brown Bags of Hope” for $5, $10 or $20. Sold at all greater Rochester Tops Friendly Markets locations, the bags include a variety of food items needed by Foodlink. In 2012, Food for Families collected over 49,000 pounds of food and $36,000 in monetary donations.

Virtual Donations

A VIRTUAL FOOD DONATION: THE EASIEST WAY FOR COMPANIES TO DONATE FOOD

No cans required, no boxes of food in your company’s lobby. Virtual food donations are an easy, interactive way for your company to donate food. Just point, click, and donate.

Virtual Food Drive features:

Customize your virtual food drive with your company’s logo and colors
Spread the word via email – just add a link to your virtual food drive and click send
Track progress in real time
Encourage greater participation with competition-style drives
Transactions can be completed within minutes
Donors may use any major credit card for payment on a secure site
Donors will receive an e-receipt confirming their donation immediately
All monies raised are restricted to food purchasing

What your money can buy:

$14.28 buys 12/18oz. jars of peanut butter
$26.40 buys 24/5oz. cans of chunk lite tuna in water
$15.60 buys 24/15oz cans of mixed vegetables
$9.36 buys 24/7.25oz boxes of macaroni & cheese

For more information, contact Raven Magill (585)328.3380 x127

Corporate Food Donation

What can be donated:

Foodlink will accept cases or truckloads of non-perishable food, refrigerated food, frozen food produce, and non-food items. Items for donation can be:

Surplus
Cosmetically damaged (packaging)
Mislabeled or unlabeled
Close coded
Discontinued, test-market, and/or private-label brand
Under or overweight
Seasonally packaged
Bulk packaged

Donating food makes good business sense.

Here’s why:

Tax deduction: The 1976 Federal Tax Law (H.R. 10612) permits you to deduct all of the costs of producing, packaging, and delivering your products—plus up to 50 percent of the difference between the cost and the fair market value.
Cost savings: By donating food and other products, your company eliminates dumping costs.
Inventory control: A food donation can help reduce your surplus of hard-to-move inventory and inventory that can be utilized but not sold.
Company promotion: Foodlink promotes our food donors through a variety of communications and marketing materials, from our newsletters and website to event signage and press outreach.
Community goodwill: Your support and goodwill will garner the respect of the community.
Proud staff: Employees feel good about their company’s role in making a difference in their community.
Instant feedback: Your donation will be tracked, documented, and receipted.
Legal protection: Your company is protected from liability by the Good Samaritan Act.

Good Samaritan Law

Millions of pounds of food and groceries go to waste each year. To encourage companies and organizations to donate healthy food that would otherwise go to waste, they are protected from criminal and civil liability under the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.

Donate Electronics

Donate your old electronics, fight hunger. It’s that easy.

When you donate your old, re-marketable electronics to Sunnking, you’re helping raise much-needed funds for Foodlink programs.

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How it works

The We-Cycle Donation Program was created to help raise money for Foodlink from electronics recycling collections events throughout Monroe County. For each pound of electronic scrap Sunnking collects from residential recycling collection events, Foodlink will receive a monetary donation. Click here to find the next community electronics recycling collections event.

Contact Martha Brown at (585)328.3380 x136 for more information.

FAQ

My donation has not been processed yet, should I be worried that it got lost in the mail?

If more than three weeks has passed since the day that you mailed in your donation, please contact Raven Magill at (585)328.3380 x127. It may be possible that your donation is at Foodlink—while we aim to have all donations processed within 48 hours of their arrival at Foodlink, illness, vacations, and increased workload or seasonal workflow at the food bank can contribute to delays in this process. This is especially true during the holiday season—Foodlink’s busiest time of the year.

I have not yet received an acknowledgement of my donation, what’s taking so long?

We strive to have all donations acknowledged within two weeks of processing. If you haven’t received an acknowledgement within two weeks of your check being cashed, or your credit card being charged, it may be possible that we did not have your correct address, or that a clerical error resulted in your acknowledgement not being sent. Please contact us so that we may resolve the issue.

I would like to make a gift in honor/memory/celebration of someone, how do I do that? How will you let them know that I made a donation? Wil

Please fill out this form and mail it to us. If you provide us with their contact information we will send them a personalized letter, excluding the amount of your donation.

If I donate with a credit card, is my information safe?

Monthly donation forms with credit card information are kept under lock and key. The donation slips for one-time credit card donations will be destroyed by confidential document services after 60 days.

Is there a fee for using the Network for Good website?

Donors do not incur a fee when using the Network for Good website. However, Foodlink is charged a “per donation fee” of 3% of each donation.

Network for Good is not letting me donate.

Network for Good is a donation service that Foodlink utilizes to collect donations online. It is a separate entity, therefore, we cannot help with technical difficulties experienced on the site. For problems with the Network for Good Website, please contact their technical support team.