Delivering Hope Through Gifts-in-Kind

Have you ever wondered where all the donated product that CHF’s church partners distribute comes from? Well, in many cases, that product comes from gifts-in-kind (GIK) donations.

So what is GIK? An in-kind donation is a non-cash gift made to a nonprofit organization (like CHF). GIK donations can be made by individuals, corporations, and businesses.

Here are some facts you may not know about the GIK program at Children’s Hunger Fund.

1. Children’s Hunger Fund has always been a GIK organization.In fact, when Dave and Lynn Phillips founded CHF in 1991, Children’s Hunger Fund operated solely as a GIK organization. Dave used his corporate connections to resource local churches with donated product that could be distributed to families in need. The Food Pak ministry began several years later.

2. CHF’s annual budget for GIK is 7 times higher for GIK than for cash donations. GIK is a significant part of the ministry of CHF. The GIK Team at CHF works hard to cultivate relationships with GIK donors for the purpose of supplying CHF’s church partners and other like-minded ministry partners with relief aid and other goods to help meet the needs of suffering children and families. Although GIK is considered a non-cash gift, a dollar amount is assigned based on the value of the donation for budgeting purposes.

3. CHF currently has 24 regular GIK donors. Each one of these donors plays an important role in the ministry of Children’s Hunger Fund by providing food and other resources. Here are our top four GIK donors in Fiscal Year 2024 to date:

• PepsiCo: 10.7 million pounds of donated product
• Nestle: 5.8 million pounds of donated product
• KeHE: 1.49 million pounds of donated product
• Dole: 5.3 million pounds of donated product

4. 85% of GIK donations is food. Given CHF’s mission to use food as a tool to reach suffering children with the hope of the gospel, it is imperative that food be the focus for the GIK team, as well. There are times, however, when donations such as diapers, hygiene items, clothing, mattresses, and furniture are also received to bless families in need, particularly following natural disasters when our partners are responding with emergency relief.

5. Annually, CHF moves about 1,800+ truckloads of GIK product. These donations are loaded onto 53-foot trucks with as many as 26 pallets in each truck and are taken either to one of three CHF locations or directly to one of CHF’s ministry partners.

6. The GIK program helps CHF to serve over 4,500 churches.When CHF receives donations from GIK donors, those donations can be distributed to any of over 1,000 Mercy Network church partners worldwide, who will use that product to serve children and families in need. That product might also be sent to a Domestic Distribution Agency (DDA). These DDA partners are US registered nonprofits that often have multiple areas of distribution within the communities they serve. Our DDA partners have allowed us to connect with more than 3,500 churches to serve even more children and families in need both with food and the hope of the gospel.

7. Children’s Hunger Fund currently has 34 DDA partners. The CHF GIK team is very strategic when determining potential DDA partners. It is imperative that each DDA partner aligns with the mission of CHF and has the ability and capacity to receive large quantities of donations within the US.

8. CHF has DDA partners in 15 states.These strategic partnerships have allowed us to expand our reach to serve even more suffering children across the US than ever before.

9. DDA Spotlight: Kaleo Foundation. Based in Oklahoma City, Kaleo Foundation is a like-minded organization that seeks to improve the lives of children in need through the procurement of donated goods. CHF’s partnership with Kaleo Foundation began in 2017 and has been instrumental in reaching families in need in Oklahoma, which has the ninth highest percentage of the population below the poverty line of any US state. With just two paid employees and a bunch of volunteers, Kaleo Foundation distributes donated goods to local churches and other faith-based organizations to serve children and families in their communities. “The best thing of all,” shared Pastor Sam Walker, founder of Kaleo Foundation, “is that we’ve seen souls come to Christ. Even if we only saw one, it would be worth it.”

10. Project Food Pak is a GIK program that anyone can participate in. When you fill a Food Pak with food and return it to Children’s Hunger Fund, that is a gift-in-kind donation.  The Food Paks you fill are delivered by local churches to families in need, creating opportunities to build relationships and share the eternal hope of the gospel. Project Food Pak is a great way for families, individuals, churches, and businesses to make a powerful difference in the lives of children in need.

Whether it comes in a semi-truck as part of a bulk shipment of product from a major corporation or it is a Food Pak with items picked out at a local grocery store by a family of four, GIK is used every day by CHF’s partners to serve children and families in need and act as a tool to share the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.