📊 The monthly report your food bank asks for
Most partner agencies owe their food bank a monthly report, and many funders ask for the same numbers at grant time. The work is not the report; it is remembering what happened on twelve different distribution days. The fix is to count the same things the same way, the same day.
Count these on every distribution day
| What | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Households served | The number almost every report starts with. |
| New households | Shows reach, and shows when need is rising. |
| Individuals, split into children, adults and seniors | Funders count people, not visits; many ask for the age groups. |
| Pounds given out | Weigh, or count boxes and multiply by your average box weight. |
| Volunteers and their hours | Volunteer time is part of your story and, for some grants, your match. |
Count every load that comes in
Write down each delivery and pickup: food bank orders, TEFAP, food drives, grocery rescue, farms, and purchases, each with its pounds. Your food bank's order history covers its own deliveries; everything else is easy to lose.
Keep names where they belong
If your food bank gives you an intake system for client records, keep using it for that. Your own tracking only needs counts, which keeps it simple for volunteers and keeps clients' information where it is protected.
A simple way to do it
A notebook works if one person keeps it. A shared form works better. Food Programs in All In One Nonprofit does it on a phone in under a minute and prints the month on your letterhead. See a sample: https://www.allinonenonprofit.com/food/?demo=1