Did Taylor Swift create a new era for food bank donations?

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Ahead of Taylor Swift’s July 14, 2023, concert in Denver, Aditi Desai, the marketing director for the Food Bank of the Rockies, received an unusual call. The billionaire pop star wanted to donate tens of thousands of meals to the nonprofit — a charitable effort she’d repeat, just like her favorite songs, as she crisscrossed the country on her 52-city Eras Tour.

“I was shocked and then overwhelmed with joy,” Desai said. “When we shared the news with them, they were so gracious and said Taylor wanted to express her gratitude for the work we do in our community every day.”

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Since March, Swift has donated the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of meals to help feed the growing number of Americans struggling with rising food and housing costs. She chose to donate without celebrity fanfare, and the gifts have been well-received. But food bank operators say they have provided only temporary relief, as food insecurity has worsened and federal COVID-19 aid has run out.

“We got a lot of support during COVID,” said Jessica Sund, director of development and communications at the Canal One Regional Food Bank in Minnesota, which received funding from SWIFT. “It really helped us avoid a horrible situation. But the numbers we’re seeing are much higher now because of inflation and the cost of living, and all that support has disappeared.”

Food bank operators say Swift’s support has been meaningful, especially in drawing attention to their critical service to low- and moderate-income people. But food banks, collectively, need billions of dollars in funding each year, said Kyle Wade, CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, who serves as president of the National Council on Feeding America, whose Georgia food bank received a grant from Swift.

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The annual funding gap between what is needed for food assistance and what the federal government provides is about $33 billion, according to Feeding America, a network of food banks, food pantries and local meal programs.

“At a macro level, food banks are certainly under a lot of pressure right now, primarily due to the exceptional level of demand in the community,” Wade said.

According to Feeding America, food banks typically rely on individual and corporate donations, contributions from local farmers and retailers, and federal aid programs to support operations.

75,000 meals

The self-described “tormented” poet, whose net worth is estimated at more than $1 billion, has a history of supporting emergency relief causes. Swift’s charitable fund was created at the Middle Tennessee Community Foundation to respond to flooding that hit the region in 2010. She donated $1 million to the community foundation’s Tennessee Emergency Response Fund last year.

The lucky food banks that received a share of her fortune praised the pop star for highlighting her efforts to reduce hunger amid inflation, rising food and energy costs and increased demand for her services. At least 49 million Americans rely on food banks and other charities for food. Young people, who make up a large portion of Swift’s audience, are increasingly affected by food insecurity. More than half of those ages 18 to 34 said rising food costs were among their biggest financial concerns.

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Swift’s PR team declined to comment on her donations to the food bank. Grant recipients said they were asked not to disclose the value of the gifts. However, Desai said the donation allowed the food bank to purchase enough food for 75,000 meals. She said the food bank can typically provide about three meals for every dollar donated.

Channel One Regional Food Bank of Minnesota was able to purchase 30,000 meals with her donation, according to Jessica Sund, the organization’s director of development and communications. Food banks can purchase between two and 10 meals for every dollar donated, she said.

“It varies greatly from food bank to food bank,” Sund said.

At Channel One, it typically costs about $8 million a year to keep shelves stocked with enough food to support nearly 300,000 visits from people in 14 counties.

Keep it real

Swift’s gifts appear to be a small percentage of the proceeds from her tour and personal fortune. However, many of the recipients of her food bank grants consider the fame she bestows upon them invaluable.

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Desai said her donation has provided her with the kind of media attention the Rocky Food Bank never would have been able to provide. “We saw a rapid increase in likes and comments on social media posts announcing the gift, with significantly more engagement than we normally get,” Desai said.

Some food banks said they saw an increase in small donations in response to the press coverage. But the boost was short-lived, and most continue to face challenges from high demand for their services as more Americans struggle to make ends meet.

Channel One is seeing an increase in individuals and families reaching out to it for the first time after realizing they can no longer afford to buy food themselves, Sund said. The organization is currently receiving 10,000 visits to food shelves at its Rochester, Minnesota, location, up about 50 percent from last year, she said.

Sund and other food bank leaders point to inflation and a lack of affordable housing as contributing to the surge in demand. The expiration of government pandemic relief funding has exacerbated these issues, they say. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the federal government expanded the Child Tax Credit program for low-income families. Lawmakers allowed the policy to expire at the end of 2021. Similarly, temporary increases in benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are set to expire in March 2023.

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Second Harvest of Silicon Valley also received a gift from Swift during her U.S. tour. Shobana Gopi, philanthropy director for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, said the organization heard Swift was donating to food banks and reached out to her press team about a month before her shows in Santa Clara last July.

“The day before the party, they just called us,” she said.

Jobe declined to provide further details about the donation, saying only that the organization was grateful for the gift and that Swift had “shed light” on food insecurity. However, the situation on the ground has not improved significantly. Jobe said Silicon Valley has been hit hard by layoffs in the tech sector that have resulted in less giving, even from those who are still employed. People are worried about job security and are giving less, Jobe said; when those donations drop, it also means less money from the companies that are involved.

In response, she said Second Harvest is cutting its budget and keeping a small staff. Food rations have also been cut; instead of providing gallons of milk, the bank is now giving away half-gallons and giving away meat, eggs and dairy on alternating weeks, she said. Some weeks people get meat, and other weeks they might just get dairy and eggs, Jobe said. The organization currently serves 500,000 people a month, roughly the same number as during the height of the pandemic.

“Right now we are facing a lot of challenges in terms of getting support from the community,” she said.

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Stephanie Beasley is a senior writer at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Foundation. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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