Has Taylor Swift Created a New Era for Food Bank Donations?

As Taylor Swift’s July 14, 2023 concert in Denver approached, Aditi Desai, marketing director for the Food Bank of the Rockies, got an unusual call. The billionaire pop star wanted to donate tens of thousands of meals to the nonprofit, a philanthropic effort she’d been rehearsing, along with her favorite songs, as she crisscrossed the country on her 52-city Eras Tour.

“I was shocked and thrilled by the news,” Desai said. “When Swift’s reps shared the news, they were very kind and let us know that Taylor wanted to express her gratitude for the work we do in our community every day.”

Since last 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 quietly, and the gifts were well received. But food bank managers say they provided only temporary relief as food insecurity increased and federal COVID-19 relief ended.

“We received a tremendous amount of support during the COVID pandemic,” said Jessica Sund, director of development and communications at Channel One Regional Food Bank of Minnesota, which received funding from Swift. “It really helped us avoid getting into 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 is gone.”

Swift’s support has been significant, food bank operators say, particularly in drawing attention to their critical service to low- and moderate-income people. But food banks, collectively, require billions of dollars in funding annually, said Kyle Waide, CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, who is president of the National Council for Feeding America and whose Georgia food bank is a Swift beneficiary.

The annual funding gap between what is needed in food aid and what is provided by the federal government is about $33 billionaccording to Feeding America, a network of local food banks, pantries and meal programs.

“At a macro level, food banks are certainly facing a lot of pressure right now, primarily because of the extraordinary level of demand in the community,” Waide said.

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

The self-proclaimed “tortured poet”, whose biography is estimated at net worth of over a billion dollarshas a history of supporting emergency relief causes. Swift’s charitable fund at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee was established in response to flooding in the area in 2010. She has donated 1 million dollars to the Community Foundation’s Tennessee Emergency Response Fund last year.

Food banks who were lucky enough to receive a share of her wealth praised the pop star for highlighting their efforts to reduce hunger amid inflation and rising prices. food and energy costs, and increased demand for their services. At least 49 million Americans rely on food from food banks and other charities. Young people, who make up a large part of Swift’s audience, are increasingly affected by food insecurity. More than half of people aged 18 to 34 said rising food costs were one of their biggest financial concerns.

Swift’s public relations team declined to comment on her donations to the food bank. Recipients said they were asked not to disclose the amount donated. However, Desai said the contribution allowed the food bank to purchase enough food for 75,000 meals. Typically, the food bank can provide about three meals for every dollar donated, she said.

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

“It really varies widely 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 serve about 300,000 visits from people in 14 counties.

Swift’s donations represent only a small percentage of her touring income and personal fortune. Yet many of her food bank donation recipients find the exposure she provides invaluable.

His donation gave the Food Bank of the Rockies media attention it could never have afforded, Desai said. “We saw a rapid increase in likes and comments on the site.” social media post “by announcing the giveaway, with an exponentially greater engagement than we usually receive,” Desai said.

Some food banks said they saw an increase in small donations in response to the media coverage. The increase didn’t last long, and most continue to face high demand for their services as more Americans struggle to make ends meet.

Channel One is seeing an increase in individuals and families turning to the organization for the first time because they realize they can no longer afford to buy food on their own, Sund said. Currently, the organization is getting 10,000 visits to its food aisle in Rochester, Minn., which is about a 50 percent increase from last year, she said.

Sund and other food bank leaders point to inflation and a lack of affordable housing as contributing to the increased demand. The end of government funding for pandemic relief has exacerbated those problems, they said. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the federal government expanded the child tax credit program to low-income families. Lawmakers allowed that policy to expire at the end of 2021. Similarly, temporary increases to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits expired in March 2023.

Second Harvest of Silicon Valley also received a gift from Swift during her U.S. tour. The organization had heard that Swift was donating to food banks and reached out to her press team about a month before her concerts in Santa Clara last July, said Shobana Gubbi, head of philanthropy at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley.

“A day before the concert, they just called us,” she said.

Gubbi declined to provide further details about the donation, saying only that the organization was grateful for the donation and for Swift “shining a light” on food insecurity. However, the situation on the ground has not improved much. The Silicon Valley region has been deeply affected by layoffs Changes in the tech sector have led to a decline in giving, even from those who still have jobs, Gubbi said. People are worried about their job security and are giving less; and when those donations decline, that means a decline in corporate giving, too, Gubbi added.

In response, Second Harvest has cut its budget and reduced staff, she said. Food rations have also been reduced; instead of providing gallons of milk, the bank now distributes half-gallons and gives meat, eggs and dairy products on a rotating basis from week to week, she said. Some weeks, people get meat, and other weeks, they get just dairy and eggs, Gubbi said. The organization currently serves 500,000 people a month, about the same number it did at the height of the pandemic.

“Right now we’re having a lot of difficulty getting community support,” she said.

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