Blog Post
Happenings
July 21, 2020
If you had the impression that there was a lot of organizational change going on at Food for Greater Elgin, you would be absolutely correct!
The coronavirus pandemic has forced us to change how we accessed food and how we get that food to people in need. We were forced to rapidly adapt and modify a system that had been in place since our inception:
- In our previous system, we received food through donations from Northern Illinois Food Bank and area food warehouses and grocery stores, augmented by minor purchases of food to fill the gaps. Now, we receive a frequently changing balance of donations from, including from US government organized ‘CFAP’ foods (Coronavirus Food Assistance Program) and a pretty massive level of purchases of food.
- We went from being a warehouse where people came to shop, to a distribution model that included warehouse shopping, deliveries to low-income and senior housing facilities, people ‘shut-in’ at home due to medical concerns, Seniors who, though living independently, could not venture out due to the virus and, in August, direct delivery to the area’s low-income neighborhoods.
- The loss of our primary fundraiser, Pallet to Palate, due to the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting societal shutdown. Fortunately, a wide variety of donors stepped up through individual appeals and we were the beneficiaries of various private fundraising efforts that carried us through. We cannot thank enough those who made donations and who created their own fundraising (i.e., Facebook challenges) campaigns that helped FFGE carry out its work in these difficult times!
In times like these, flexible organizations survive and advance their missions. Rigid organizations close their doors.
Thanks to you, we have thrived and delivered food to as many people in the first six months of 2020 as we did in all of 2019!
There is more change to come:
- We look to add two to three additional board members. FFGE has special needs in connecting with people with deep identities with the people we serve in the LatinX and African American populations, as well as in fundraising and marketing.
- Learn from our donors about why you give, how we can best communicate with you, and meet your needs for financial reporting and thanks. A group of about 30 will be interviewed in August, with a follow-up survey to follow.
- We will review our business model. How do the ways that we serve people and raise money do the best job of meeting needs? As a wise sage in nonprofit management once told me, “You can do anything you want, so long as you get the money.” How can we support this work over the long run?
- We will address long-running issues that have hampered our mission. We have been blessed with a building with affordable rent. Our landlords have been trying to sell the building for over six years, with an apparent agreement benignly reached in early March! By the middle of March life had changed; think of it: addressing the pandemic and the explosion of need as well as finding a new building! That deal fell apart as with so many business plans from the pandemic, but it highlighted our need of taking control of our future.
- We will decide what kind of leader we need for the next five years. I am an interim executive director, with an agreement to be with Food for Greater Elgin through next June. Think of me as the set-up guy, the assistant to she who is to be next. In January, the Board plans on initiating a search for the next ‘permanent’ executive director. We will identify our best strategies and practices now and go about finding the person who can make those work in January.
It may be summertime, but Food for Greater Elgin is working hard! Thank you for your support!
Michael Montgomery