Meal Exchange (Tools to Manage Campaigns for Food Donation Gathering)

This site has structured programs to help community groups (students, in particular) gather food donations and monetary donations to help alleviate hunger. Some of the tools are "Canada-specific", because they deal with money. But many of the programs appear to be able to be adapted to any region.

From their website:

Meal Exchange is a national student-founded, youth-driven, registered charity organized to address local hunger by mobilizing the talent and passion of students. Since 1993, our programmes have been run on over 50 campuses across Canada and generated over $2 million dollars worth of food or 727,200 meals to address local hunger.

Program Overview
Meal Exchange is a national student-founded, youth-driven, registered charity organized to address local hunger by mobilizing the talent and passion of students. Since 1993, our programmes have been run on over 50 campuses across Canada and generated donations of over $2 million dollars worth of food or 727,200 meals to address local hunger.

Hunger Problem. Student Solution.

Meal Exchange Programs include:

Trick or Eat
Skip a Meal
Clear the Shelves
Esurio
Ingredients for Learning
Change Makers
Youth Leadership in Research
Portraits of Hunger.
The Student Food Network

Meal Exchange Programs

Trick or Eat is Meal Exchange's most succesful program. It involves costumed students who canvass their neighbourhoods on Halloween to collect non-perishable food items for the local community. This fun and easily executable program is supported by Meal Exchange's national office and is a great way to engage youth while promoting volunteerism and community awareness.

Total amount raised to date: $1,186,720.84

Skip a Meal allows student meal plan holders an opportunity to donate a meal to purchase food at wholesale prices to support local hunger causes. All food provided to the community through Skip a Meal is food that would have otherwise gone un-donated and 100% of student donations generated on campus stays within their local community. Meal Exchange offers students promotional materials and support.

Total amount raised to date: $587,131.27

Clear the Shelves is a program that encourages students to literally clear their shelves at the end of the academic year. Clear the Shelves! allows students an opportunity to donate food, clothing and furniture to community members in need.

Total amount raised to date: $92,069

Esurio: Meal Exchange's Annual Leadership Conference is a forum for youth leaders across Canada to exchange ideas, celebrate success, explore community - based solutions to food security and further their abilities as leaders.

Ingredients for Learning is an online knowledge centre that provides resources on hunger and food security, youth engagement and social innovation to promote discussion and foster ideas on these topics.

Change-Makers Program provides our youth- network with dynamic one-on-one mentor engagement and social innovation to promote discussion and foster ideas on these topics.

Youth Leadership in Research Program. The Ontario Association of Food Banks is collaborating with Meal Exchange to provide upper level undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to do research on important public policy issues or to participate in community service-learning opportunities related to hunger and poverty in Ontario.

Portraits of Hunger is a national youth-led dramatic writing competition and social theatre initiative that will feature stories of hunger in Canada. The vision of this project is to educate, entertain, and spark a dialogue about hunger in Canada that reflects both the integrity of the personal story, and the multi-dimensional nature of hunger in Canada.

The Student Food Network is Canada's student-founded, youth-led initiative that connects campus food centres to each other and a network of resources.