United Food Bank
Uniting Communities to Alleviate Hunger
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Nationally, hunger is a more pervasive issue than the average person understands. The most recent Feeding America Map the Meal Gap study (based on 2021 figures) shows that 34 million Americans – or 1 out of 10 people – and 9 million children are food insecure, meaning they lack access to healthy, nutritious food. Arizona ranks 14th highest for child food-insecurity at 14% and about 752,000 Arizonans (226,080 children) are living with food insecurity. United Food Bank works with 150 nonprofit partner agencies and programs to provide emergency food assistance to Arizonans living in poverty and struggling to put food on the table by acquiring large amounts of healthy food. In 2022, United Food Bank served over 2 million Arizonans, an 18 percent increase over 2022.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Emergency & Supplemental Food Assistance
United Food Bank, through its network of 150 partner agencies and programs, serves the urgent food needs of a diverse population of low-income children, families, senior citizens, the working poor, disabled and otherwise disadvantaged adults, and throughout Eastern Maricopa, Gila, Pinal, Southern Navajo and Southern Apache Counties.
$1 = 5 meals: United Food Bank can turn every dollar donated into 5 meals, and 96 cents of every dollar goes directly back into hunger relief operations. United Food Bank helps provide about 50,000 meals every day.
Where we work
Awards
Agency of the Year 2011
Mesa United Way
Agency of the Year 2018
Mesa United Way
Affiliations & memberships
Member of Feeding America 2021
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance - Organization 2016
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of people within the organization's service area accessing food aid
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Emergency & Supplemental Food Assistance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
United Food Bank feeds hungry people in Arizona by distributing food through a network of community agencies an partners. The numbers represent individuals served through UFB's nonprofit partners.
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Emergency & Supplemental Food Assistance
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
United Food Bank provides pounds of fresh and nonperishable wholesome pounds of food that are converted to meals. 1.2 lbs = 1 meal.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
To unite communities to alleviate hunger.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
To increase the amount of quality food distributed through community partner agencies across Arizona; increase the number of donors (monthly, major, corporate and retail) to enable United Food Bank to shrink the meal gap, expand use of social media to educate, advocate and engage the region we serve; advocacy and education regarding hunger as it presents itself in our region with local, regional, state and national leaders; provide our community partners and clients with the best customer and food service possible. Distribute TEFAP and expand our Mobile Pantry Program to cover the holes in emergency food access experienced in rural communities; increase Retail Rescue Food donations; improve and expand trucking fleet to assure quality of food delivered, on time and in excellent condition to community partners; and implement the Link2Feed client tracking system to improve reporting and tracking to help us understand the needs of the communities we serve.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
A well-qualified staff of 50+ and a volunteer force of 3,500+, United Food Bank is able to receive and distribute emergency and supplemental food. We are a member of Feeding America and the Association of Arizona Food Banks which elevates our ability to collaborate and coordinate our work. Our facilities meet our needs for both storage, handling and distribution capacity. A fleet of refrigerated tractor-trailers, refrigerated box trucks and other vehicles pick up and deliver needed food that goes out as meals through our 150 community partners and programs. This system of warehouses and vehicles, in addition to our highly qualified staff, allows us to distribute about 50,000 meals daily - 35% of which is fresh produce. UFB is recognized as fully compliant with all Feeding America member contract standards, as well as achieving all of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance Standards.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2022, United Food Bank distributed 21.6 million pounds of food totaling more than 18 million meals to Arizonans experiencing food insecurity. Some of the challenges we face are the growing needs in our network due to rising food and housing costs and continued deep pockets of poverty in rural and remote areas of our region that require more resources in terms of trucking product long distances. This year our goal is to continue to diversify our food source and revenue streams, maintain high levels of fresh produce, improve our warehouse and trucking fleet, and continue to reduce food insecurity across Arizona by raising awareness, increasing revenue, and shrinking the meal gap.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
United Food Bank
Board of directorsas of 05/12/2023
Ms. Cathy Chlarson
The Kroger Co.
Term: 2022 - 2023
Ms. Christina Dicksen
Mike Suriano
Southwest Foodservice Excellence (Retired)
David Plumb
Navopache Electric (Retired)
Cathy Clarson
The Kroger Co.
Trevor Hansen
Thomas Printworks
Linde Harned
HR Consultant
Christopher Wodarcyk
Empire Southwest, LLC
Jennifer Holsman Tetreault
US Foods, Inc.
Scott Kooiman
The Kenny Klaus Team/Keller Williams
Christina Dicksen
Experience Scottsdale (Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau)
Marty Rios
East Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Joseph D. Shelley
City of Show Low Police
Jennifer Wargo
Waste Management of Arizona
Chris Mason
Member at Jennings, Strous, & Salmon, P. L. C.
Julie Spilsbury
Council Member District 2 at City of Mesa
Kisshell Wilson
Director of Water Information Technology Services at Salt River Project
Richard Warrenb
CFO/COO at Innovation Care Partners
Sonia Martinez
Owner at Law Office of Sonia Martinez
Srikanth Balusani
CTO at MST Solutions
Wendy K. Brooks
Licensed Mortgage Loan Originator at Scout Mortgage
Raveen Arora
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data