10 Charities That Fight Hunger Worldwide
One of the greatest problems in the world today is hunger. While many of us enjoy the pleasures of cooking satisfying meals at home as well as dining out, there are millions of people—many of them children—in America and around the world that do not get enough to eat. The good thing is that this problem is fixable; by getting involved locally and donating or volunteering at your city’s food bank or soup kitchen, as well as giving to larger charities, you can make a difference. These 10 organizations are safe choices when looking to make charitable donations to fight hunger.
Action Against Hunger
Action Against Hunger has been committed to ending world hunger for nearly 40 years spanning almost 50 countries. Continuously exploring how to solve the hunger problem, the organization saves the lives of children and their families through detection, prevention, and treatment, particularly after a disaster strikes. One goal is to teach the communities to learn to be independent and provide for themselves. Action Against Hunger is determined to work until the world is free from hunger, pushing for long-term change across the globe.
Almost all of the money donated—93 cents of every dollar—goes toward programs to help cure the hunger problem.
Feeding America
The largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States, Feeding America connects people with food through donations, volunteers, and dedicated staff. The organization takes nutritious food—before it goes to waste—from retailers, manufacturers, and farmers and gives it to people in need. But they also work with these sources to gain insight as to why so much food goes to waste and how they can get more of it to the many food banks across the country.
Bread for the World Institute
This faith-based organization confronts American and World Leaders about their policies to end hunger everywhere. The organization’s approach is one of education, analyzing the world’s hunger problem and devising strategies to combat it. Bread for the World teaches policymakers, opinion leaders, its advocacy network, and the public about the hunger problem, producing studies and developing educational resources. The organization believes that empowering people is the key to real progress toward ending hunger.
Food Bank for New York City
This organization oversees feeding New York City’s hungry, a big job for anyone. It was founded in 1983 as a response to the increasing number of people seeking emergency food assistance in New York City.
The Food Bank For New York City works to end food poverty and increase access to affordable, nutritious food for low-income New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs. The Food Bank’s initiatives focus on direct services, food sourcing and distribution, nutrition and health education, financial empowerment, disaster relief, and policy and research.
Freedom from Hunger
Having joined forces with the Grameen Foundation in 2016, this California-based charity focuses on helping the poor, women, in particular, battle hunger. With sustainable and innovative solutions, this organization strives to offer self-help solutions to fight against chronic hunger, equipping poor families with education and health services to improve their financial situations, protect their health, and achieve lasting food security.
The Hunger Project
The mantra of this global organization is to empower people to learn to be self-reliant and meet their own basic needs. Through women-centered strategies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the Hunger Project uses a three-pronged approach: mobilizing at the grassroots level in villages to build self-reliance, empowering women as key change agents, and forging effective partnerships with local government. The final goal is to teach families to build better futures for their children.
Heifer International
Founded in 1944, the mission of Heifer International is to empower people to get themselves out of poverty. Part of the way they do this is by donating livestock such as cows, goats, and chickens, or funding similar programs. By focusing on building up local economies, Heifer International’s approach is to help those increase their income and assets, bolster food security and nutrition, and improve environmental sustainability.
Through the program “Passing on the Gift,” each project participant passes on their animal’s first female offspring, training another family in need on how to care for the livestock, multiplying the benefit.
Meals on Wheels
Aimed at ending senior hunger, Meals on Wheels delivers meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals. But it is also an opportunity to offer those who are alone a bit of company, address any safety issues, and even provide holistic care. With almost 1 million volunteers, MOW is active in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Your charitable donations are best used by giving to a local Meals-on-Wheels organization.
No Kid Hungry
The goal of No Kid Hungry is exactly that—that no child in America should grow up hungry. The organization has a variety of leaders on board, including teachers, chefs, community leaders, parents, lawmakers, and CEOs, all of whom have the shared belief that there should be an end to child hunger in America. This organization has identified that, although there are many programs in place to help feed hungry children, not every child in need of food has access to these programs. That is why they’ve devised clever ways to feed the hungry youth, including school breakfasts, summer meals, and after-school meals. It also goes further with food skills and education, research and policy, and working with government officials.
Food for the Hungry
This faith-based organization has worked since 1971 to end hunger globally, serving those in need in 20 countries worldwide. Instead of general donations, Food for the Hungry offers specific items that are in need with monetary amounts attached; for example, you can donate 20 food tree seedlings for $27, a sheep for $54, or buy the whole farm for $1,034. You can also sponsor a child for a monthly payment.