Hunger Free Kansas Mass Action Grants

The Hunger Free Kansas Mass Action Grants, funded by the Kansas Health Foundation, provide up to $5,000 to eligible Kansas nonprofits to explore innovative solutions addressing hunger and food insecurity. Applications are encouraged to align with the foundation's goals of promoting health equity and community collaboration. Grantees may use funds flexibly for projects tailored to local needs, with a focus on cross-sector learning, school nutrition programs, alternative food systems, and improving access to social services.

NOTE: Applications must be submitted by deadline, but funding decisions will be made on a rolling basis.  So grantees who submit earlier in the process may receive more opportunity for funding.
Goals
Funding is intended to be flexible and allow you to fund projects most needed in your area. Staff time is allowed as an expense.
Selection Criteria
Your idea should fit into one of four categories of work identified by Hunger Free Kansas:
Cross-Sector Learning: Increase shared understanding, shared vision and shared momentum between the private, nonprofit and government sectors. School-based Nutrition Programs: Opportunities to work with schools to maximize nutrition programs.Alternative Food Systems: Addressing gaps in access, production, processing, distribution, or food recovery.Social Services Access: The need to connect charitable food efforts to other social services and safety nets in a community.
Project Examples
Below are a few sample ideas in each of the four categories of work.
For Cross-Sector Learning: Convene stakeholders from the nonprofit, government, and private sectors and facilitate cross-sector learning on food insecurity.  Use the Hunger Free Kansas data walk as a part of this experience! Take on storytelling!  Create success and challenges stories to be shared at a cross sector convening. Help a group of cross-sector partners apply for a grant initiative; provide grant writing support and capacity.For School-based Nutrition Programs:Host a series of meetings with local school officials and food service directors to better understand opportunities/needs for summer meal sites, greater free and reduced lunch participation, farm to school opportunities, etc.Work with a local higher education institution (community college, college, university) to take steps towards a “Hunger Free Campus” designationSupport a school district’s work to enroll families in Free and Reduced Lunch or Summer EBT.For Alternative Food Systems:Launch/support Incubator/Community Kitchens, including connections to community meals. (This could include first steps such as a feasibility study).Design a local food recovery system. Explore what software might make this happen.Implement or adapt the Kitchen ReStore project for your community.For Social Services Access:Consider stationing a Community Health Worker at a food pantry or community meal sites.Work with a local Public Health Department, Federally Qualified Healthcare Center, or Hospital to begin conversations to explore or connect to existing Food as Medicine Produce Prescription opportunities.Help a local food pantry enhance operations with best practices (ex. incentives for nutritious choices at food pantries or assessing and reducing barriers to food pantry access.)

Eligibility

Any eligible 501(c)(3) organization, government entity, or church in Kansas classified as tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, not a “supporting organization” described in Section 509(a)(3), and not a “private foundation” as defined in Section 509(a), may submit projects.  Applying organizations must have their independent 501(c)(3).

Ineligibility

Fiscal sponsorships are not permitted with this grant program.  Funding must NOT be utilized for capital campaigns (directly or as an indirect contribution), new building construction, operating deficits or retirement of debt, endowment programs, real estate acquisitions, lobbying efforts, or grants to individuals.