The Impact Of Food Banks On Government Policy And Social System

This report will discuss corporate involvement in food banks and the effect that this involvement has on the operations and management of food banks, public opinion on food charity, and government legislature to eradicate food insecurity. The overall research question being answered is how corporations have propagated food banks - an ineffective means for responding to food insecurity - for their own benefit, while negatively impacting government policy and misleading public opinion to erode our social system and ultimately perpetuate food poverty.

It is important to understand the history and reasons for the establishment of food banks and the progress that they have made on our society to date. This report will question, from a social justice perspective, who is benefiting from food banking, while arguing that the practice of food banking is an inadequate response to food poverty and does not address the underlying causes of hunger.Although both sides of the issue will be explored, the stance taken is that corporate involvement in food banks has a detrimental effect on food security. Food banks are not a sufficient response to food insecurity because they neglect to address and remedy the root cause of the issue, while appeasing the needs of large corporations and misleading society in doing so. The involvement of corporations in food banks is one of the main reasons as to why governments neglect to implement effective solutions to the issue of hunger. Large corporations are one of the most significant supporters of food banks and food charity. In return, they receive massive benefits like the ability to influence public decision by marketing their corporate social responsibility efforts, massive tax cuts, and the ability to influence change at a political level. Food charity and food donations are pervasive in the non-profit landscape as well as in many communities, mainly in grocery stores, schools, workplaces, religious institutions, and many more institutions/organizations which frequently hold food drives and ask for donations. The driver behind these pleas for food charity will be discussed, while highlighting how corporations continue to influence public opinion toward the advantage of their bottom line.

This report seeks to address the lack of incentive to actually end food insecurity, as it is ultimately a threat to the agenda and profits of large corporations.

History and Objectives of Food Banks

Food security, as defined by the World Food Summit exists when “all people at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. Food banks were originally established as a response to high levels of poverty and food insecurity in the recession of the early 1980’s. They were intended as a temporary solution to the food crisis, but they have become a permanent response to hunger in our society.

The Ineffectiveness of Food Banks

The rise of food banks and their entrenchment in our society is a matter of concern, as the issue of food poverty continues to rise while food banks flourish as business organizations, and the Canadian social welfare system is being eroded while failing to meet basic international standards. Food banks are by definition not designed to help their beneficiaries become self sufficient; they are meant to be used as a last resort. The question then remains, if the hungry and the poor are not benefiting from this broken system, why are the government and corporations still supporting it?

Corporate Presence & Profit Margins

Large corporations are one of the most significant supporters of food banks and arguably, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the food bank system. Amongst the myriad of controversial and contemporary societal issues, hunger relief stands almost always solitary in its ability to garner support from all demographics. Hunger relief, has therefore become a safe cause for most corporations to support in order to enhance their reputation in the eyes of the public, while also benefiting their profit margin. Every cash donation earns corporations tax deductions in both the US and Canada. Companies in the US receive approximately $200 million per year in tax deductions for the food they donate - they receive tax deductions not based on cost, but rather based on the median between the retail and wholesale value. In 2015, corporations sold $630 million of canned or processed foods to the US government to be distributed to food banks.

Corporate Presence & CSR Initiatives

Companies such as Walmart also leverage their support in order to increase sales in store. Walmart has run several campaigns inciting people to buy certain products so Walmart can donate the equivalent value to food banks. Every year Walmart holds: Fight Hunger, Spark Change, a campaign that is aimed towards raising money for food banks to provide meals. Their goal this year is to reach 10 million meals, while last year they reached 8 million. The way the donation functions, is if a buyer purchases select products, Walmart will match the value of their purchases and donate an equivalent amount to local food banks. However, reading into the fine print you can see that Walmart’s criteria requires you round the purchases up to the next dollar to qualify for Walmart to donate the rounded-up amount. Walmart then goes on to implement fine print that make the purchases of these products purely profitable: $2,000 maximum donation of food per store (regardless of how much food was purchased). It also is apparent that the select products for purchase, are all those of Walmart’s partnering brands, so is this campaign for their desire to help feed the hunger, or a marketing scheme to increase profits for them and their partners. The final notice in the Terms and Conditions is that Walmart is assuming each meal will cost $0.33, “based on available data”, which is not presented. If the calculation is done correctly, 8 million meals are $0.33 means Walmart donating a whooping $264,000. In a whole month of partner product sales, all the monetary value in all of Canadian Walmart purchases was $264,000?

Walmart has also used its charitable food contributions to ensure expansion into cities in which it has not been allowed to operate in the past due to its unethical company practices. The presence of corporations does not merely stop at donations and deceiving marketing - it also carries over to the structural hierarchy and daily operations of food banks.

Corporate Presence & Leveraging Public Policy

Corporations frequently provide food banks with volunteers - especially board members: 22% of food bank board members work for large corporations. Board members are high ranking employees from large corporations, and therefore they put pressure on food banks to neglect advocating for the underlying causes of food poverty such as low minimum wage and insufficient social security system. Corporations are interested in keeping labour costs low, and therefore they pay food bank executives well - both in the United States and Canada. In turn, food banks are diligent not to alienate their largest donors. In many cases, food banks advocate for tax deductions and policies that are often in favour of the corporations but detrimental to their constituents.

Many subject matter experts can agree that if food banks were more outspoken on the real caases of food insecurity, they would be organizing the public to advocate for the real solutions. It is clear that the government is no longer a key decision maker in the area. Corporate interests dominate public opinion, food bank governance, and government policy.