General Mills Foundation: Nourishing Lives

Source: Giving Forum Winter 2012 01/27/2012

More than 583,000 Minnesotans are food-insecure, which means they do not always know where they will find their next meal. Just over 50 percent of food-insecure Minnesotans do not qualify for federal nutrition programs and must rely on charitable emergency food programs to meet their needs.

The statistics can be daunting, but General Mills is doing its part to feed growing numbers of hungry citizens of Minnesota and the world.

In 2011 the General Mills Foundation increased hunger and nutrition wellness grantmaking by 27 percent. In addition, it formalized its food-related giving into a four-step food spectrum it calls “Food-Based Social Change.”

According to Jeff Peterson, director of innovation and strategy for the General Mills Foundation, “The spectrum is an articulation of the work the foundation has done for the last 50 years.”

The spectrum has four stages (see graphic), and Peterson says it is really helping focus the foundation’s giving. “We talk about not just making a difference in the world, but making our difference in the world,” he explains. “What can we do as a multi-national, billion-dollar food company that others can’t do?”

Providing Food

What General Mills can do is nourish lives. The first phase is summarized as: Providing food to those in need. The company does this through partnerships with Second Harvest Heartland and the Hunger-Free Minnesota Campaign, Meals on Wheels, Feed My Starving Children and other local nonprofits.

In 2011, Minneapolis headquarters employees hosted their 29th annual food drive, a campaign that collected 10,000 pounds of food and raised more than $100,000 in support of metro area food shelves. Also in 2011, General Mills made product donations worth $28.2 million. “This phase of the spectrum gets food to people who need it. It’s increasingly necessary, but it’s not all we can do,” says Peterson.

Developing Solutions

The spectrum’s second part is: Developing and sharing food solutions. So far, this work has taken place primarily in developing countries, as part of Partners in Food Solutions. Through this initiative, General Mills volunteers help small and medium-sized food processors solve production and other problems.

Peterson hopes to get General Mills involved in domestic food-solutions work. Noting that six billion pounds of produce rots in America every year before it can be sold or donated, he explains: “We have ideas on how we could capture some of that food before it becomes waste.”

Nutrition and Activity

The third step of the spectrum is: Helping families make nutritious food choices. “We do this in many ways, from providing food and funding for school breakfast programs, to supporting WIC programs, to increasing access to fresh produce with grants for local farmers markets,” says Peterson.

Step four is: Integrating food with healthy active lifestyles. Programs funded in this area encourage children and their families to be active. General Mills was the leading corporate partner in 2011’s Million Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) Challenge, initiated by First Lady Michelle Obama and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.

The endeavor aimed to get one million Americans moving in one year. To achieve PALA, children must exercise 60 minutes a day (30 minutes for adults), five days a week for six of eight weeks.

According to a September 2011 announcement by Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, “More than 1.7 million Americans joined the PALA call to ‘get moving’!”

Steps three and four – with their focus on nutrition and fitness – are frequently linked. Over the past 10 years, General Mills’ Champions for Healthy Kids® program has reached more than one million adolescents in the U.S. through grassroots community grants promoting healthy eating and physical fitness. These $10,000 grants – 25 given locally and 50 given nationally every year – are directed at nonprofits with programs that serve both areas.

A Growing Commitment

As poverty and food-related needs continue to grow, so does General Mills’ commitment. In its fiscal year ending May 31, 2011, it gave $118.7 million in grants and in-kind donations nationally ($19.4 million in Minnesota) to community organizations and programs that “unleash the power of food across a spectrum of social issues,” including hunger, nutrition and healthy lifestyles. This was an 18-percent increase in total giving and a 16-percent increase in Minnesota over the previous year.

General Mills Foundation nourishes lives through philanthropy and community engagement. www.GeneralMills.com/CommunityEngagement

Fighting Hunger

Other ways MCF members help:

Cargill partnered with World Food Program USA to get more than 22 million pounds of rice to the Horn of Africa in late 2011.

C.H. Robinson Foundation provides funding so elementary schools can add salad bars to lunchrooms.

Land O’Lakes Foundation matches donations by its member cooperatives to projects that address community hunger.

SUPERVALU donates millions of pounds of food and logistics expertise annually to Feeding America, and the SUPERVALU Foundation supports Food for All, a nonprofit that funds programs to end hunger.