The SpartanNash Foundation invites 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that align with our mission of providing hunger relief, securing shelter and supporting our military heroes to submit a grant application.
To be eligible, an organization must be located within a 30-mile radius of any of our SpartanNash corporate offices, distribution centers, food processing facilities or more than 135 retail stores, in order to support the communities we serve together.
Grant applications can be submitted once annually and must be received in full by 5 p.m. ET on the day of the submission deadline to be considered for that quarter’s Foundation board meeting. Grants are reviewed by the Foundation’s Grant Review Advisory Committee – a volunteer committee of SpartanNash associates – prior to the Foundation’s board meetings.
Completed grant applications are due by 5 p.m. ET on the following dates in 2019.
Friday, March 29 — For the board meeting on May 8, 2019
Friday, June 28 — For the board meeting on Aug. 7
Friday, Sept. 13 — For the board meeting on Oct. 23
Friday, Dec. 6 — For the board meeting on Jan. 15, 2020
Completed grants should be emailed to foundation@spartannash.com, and grant applicants will be notified of their status within two weeks of the board meeting.
Before beginning the application process, we encourage all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations to read our Frequently Asked Questions section.
Begin the grant application process now.
2018 SpartanNash Foundation grants
Ending hunger
Blessings in a Backpack – $5,000
Blessings in a Backpack mobilizes communities, individuals and resources to provide food on the weekends for elementary school children across America who might otherwise go hungry.
Caritas Emergency Services – $5,000
Caritas Emergency Services in St. Cloud, Minn., provides a 5-7 day supply of healthy food to households in the St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Sartell, St. Augusta and Wait Park Communities. They connect people able and willing to help with those facing challenges in meeting their own or their family’s basic needs.
Dégagé Ministries, Grand Rapids, Mich. – $10,000
Funding from the SpartanNash Foundation supports Dégagé’s Dining Room, which serves well-balanced meals to individuals experiencing homelessness and other hardships. Meals are offered at a low cost, and patrons are given the opportunity to choose what meal they would like to purchase and how they would like it prepared. In 2017, 56,818 meals were served. On a daily basis, 400-500 homeless men and women receive support from Dégagé.
Feeding South Dakota – $5,000
Feeding South Dakota is a hunger relief organization, fighting daily to eliminate hunger in the state. Each week, Feeding South Dakota assists in providing temporary food assistance to approximately 21,000 hungry individuals and families in the state. Their backpack program gives food every weekend to more than 5,000 kids who otherwise might go hungry.
Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia – $5,000
Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia distributes emergency food to more than 400 partner agencies and programs throughout their 4,745 square-mile service area, including the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Franklin, and Virginia Beach, as well as the counties of Southampton, Northampton, Sussex, Isle of Wight, and Accomack.
Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana – $5,000
Gleaners is leading the fight against hunger in Indiana by distributing food to more than 250 partner agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. They also provide direct services to those struggling with hunger, through programs such as BackSacks: Weekend Food for Kids, School-Based Pantry, C.A.R.E. Mobile Pantry and Community Cupboard.
Greater Lansing Food Bank, Lansing, Mich. – $10,000
GLFB services the counties of Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Clare and Isabella in central Michigan. They partner with a network of more than 140 member agencies to alleviate hunger one meal at a time and to create a future where everyone has access to nourishing food. GLFB distributes approximately 8 million pounds of nutritious food to nearly 100,000 people in need annually.
Hidden Harvest, Saginaw, Mich. – $5,000
Hidden Harvest’s mission is to alleviate hunger and reduce food waste in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Michigan (Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties). The SpartanNash Foundation grant supports the transportation of healthy foods, including the purchasing of food-handling supplies and keeping trucks on the road. Hidden Harvest supports 176 community feeding programs in the Great Lakes Bay Region and provided food to more than 82,000 families in 2017.
Hoosiers Hills Food Bank – $5,000
Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington, Ind., provides more than 3 million pounds of food annually to nearly 100 other nonprofits serving people with low incomes and personal challenges, children and seniors. HHFB member agencies serve an estimated 7,500 people each week and 25,800 individuals annually.
kidsPACK – $5,000
kidsPACK in Lakeland, Fla. is a nonprofit organization supported by community leaders, corporate sponsors, churches and concerned citizens joined with a core of volunteers throughout the county dedicated to improving the lives and opportunities of children.
Loaves and Fishes, Minneapolis – $10,000
The SpartanNash Foundation grant supports Loaves and Fishes’ meal programs and initiatives, including street outreach, nutrition programs and free produce markets. In 2017, Loaves and Fishes served 695,706 free, healthy meals, reached nearly 50,000 individuals through programming and operated 28 sites open to the public.
Manna Food Bank – $5,000
Manna Food Pantries in Pensacola, Fla., is a local, grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting hunger in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Its mission is to offer emergency food assistance, service the food-related needs of vulnerable populations and engage the entire community in the fight against hunger.
Maryland Food Bank – $5,000
The Maryland Food Bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization, leading the movement to end hunger throughout Maryland. For more than 35 years, the Maryland Food Bank has partnered with communities across the state to distribute food to individuals and families in need.
Neighbors, Inc., South St. Paul, Minn. – $10,000
Neighbors provides families and seniors with emergency and supportive services through quality food, clothing and individual support. In 2017, nearly 1 million pounds of food were distributed to at least 5,640 families, and 181 families received emergency financial grants to alleviate immediate crisis and help regain stability.
Our Daily Bread – $5,000
Our Daily Bread is located at Lutheran Community Services’ headquarters in Bellefontaine, Ohio. It is a free meal program available to the public. The program is from 4 to 6 p.m. during the week. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it is held at 223 Oakland Square. On Tuesday and Thursday, it is at the Eagles Annex at Indian Lake.
Our Lady of Grace Food Pantry – $5,000
Our Lady of Grace Food Pantry is a ministry of Our Lady of Grace Church and works through Community Action in Minot, N.D.
Regional Food Bank – $5,000
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, a member of the Feeding America network of food banks, is the largest private domestic hunger-relief charity in the state — providing enough food to feed more than 116,000 hungry Oklahomans every week, 37 percent of whom are children.
Robeson County Church and Community Center – $5,000
The Robeson County Church and Community Center in Lumberton, N.C., seeks to involve people across cultural, racial, class and denominational barriers in partnership with each other to address social needs and move toward solutions.
San Antonio Food Bank – $5,000
The San Antonio Food Bank provides food and grocery products to more than 500 partner agencies in 16 counties throughout Southwest Texas. In fiscal year 2013, the San Antonio Food Bank provided nearly 50 million pounds of food. The mission of the San Antonio Food Bank is to fight hunger in Southwest Texas through food distribution, programs, education and advocacy.
Valley Rescue Mission – $5,000
For 50 years, Valley Rescue Mission in Columbus, Ga., has worked to affect a change in the quality of life for the homeless, the needy and the addicted, helping people reenter society as productive, contributing citizens upon completion of the programs.
West Ohio Food Bank – $5,000
The West Ohio Food Bank in Lima, Ohio, will deliver about six and a half million pounds of food this year to more than 100 agencies, shelters, soup kitchens and pantries in their 11-county service area.
Securing shelter
The Bridge for Youth, Minneapolis – $10,000
Support from the SpartanNash Foundation increases the safety, well-being and self-sufficiency of youth in crisis, working to help end youth homelessness and restore families after trauma. Grant funds support around-the-clock services including crisis intervention, safe shelter, supportive housing, counseling and case management for runaway, abandoned or homeless youth. More than 800 youth are served through The Bridge for Youth, with 85 percent exiting to safe living situations.
Casa de Esperanza, St. Paul, Minn.– $30,000
Casa de Esperanza is a national Latina Network that operates El Refugio, a 24-hour emergency shelter for victims and their children. In 2017, they directly supported more than 1,100 in El Refugio, throughout the community and in partnership with the Domestic Abuse Service Center and Minneapolis Police Department.
Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minn. – $10,000
A grant from the SpartanNash Foundation supports program operations of the new Higher Ground Facility (formerly the Dorothy Day Center). The facility provides a safe, hospitable environment, basic needs support and transition resources for individuals who are homeless or living in poverty while promoting hope, dignity and positive change within a caring community. The Higher Ground Facility prepares and serves more than 900 meals per day and offers access to overnight shelter, veterans services, showers, laundry, health care, employment and housing services.
Family Promise of Hendricks County, Avon, Ind. – $5,000
Family Promise of Hendricks County provides housing and supportive services for families experiencing homelessness in Central Indiana. The Foundation grant enables Family Promise to serve additional families and provide expanded services to overcome three main barriers of homelessness – lack of transportation, childcare and affordable housing. In 2017, Family Promise provided housing and support services for 39 families, of which 65 percent served were children.
ForKids, Norfolk, Va. – $10,000
ForKids’ mission is to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty for families and children at risk. ForKids provides housing, education and support services to families experiencing homelessness in Norfolk, Va. and the surrounding area. They also operate the Regional Housing Crisis Hotline to link families to more than 400 housing related resources in the region.
Guiding Light, Grand Rapids, Mich. – $20,000
The Foundation grant provides support in the form of food, shelter and counseling to men while they are in recovery and preparing for productive futures. Of the 266 men served in 2017, 96 percent of the men assisted by the Guiding Light Mission left the organization with employment. Ten percent of men served at Guiding Light are veterans.
House of Charity, Minneapolis – $5,000
House of Charity’s mission is to feed those in need, house those experiencing homelessness and empower individuals to achieve independence. Support from the SpartanNash Foundation helps struggling individuals meet their basic human needs of food and shelter and reduce barriers to their long-term self-sufficiency, so they can become engaged members of the community. In 2017, 123,828 free public meals were provided, and 291 individuals were served through the transitional housing program.
N Street Village, Washington, D.C. – $5,000
Funding from the SpartanNash Foundation supports Patricia Handy Place for Women (PHPW). PHWP provides 214 beds, transitional housing and medical respite services for women experiencing homelessness in the District of Columbia, as well as 13 individual rooms to serve elder women experiencing homelessness. N Street Village provides shelter for 500 women and serves 156,000 meals annually.
Open Door Mission, Omaha, Neb. – $10,000
Open Door Mission strives to feed, provide shelter and medically treat the homeless and impoverished in the Omaha community. Open Door Mission serves nearly 25,000 individuals a month in the Omaha community, including veterans that utilize the free services of the mission.
Perspectives, Inc., Minneapolis – $10,000
Perspectives’ goal is to empower homeless, recovering mothers and their children to build healthy and sustainable families through supportive housing, case management, mental health and recovery services, and child enrichment programming. In 2017, 88 percent of families moved to permanent housing at final exit.
Sojourner Project, Hopkins, Minn. – $10,000
Sojourner Shelter is a free, confidential safe haven for survivors and their children of domestic violence, with services that promote healing, increased safety and stability. They provide emergency safe haven, basic needs, legal advocacy and support, programs and services. The Foundation grant supports Sojourner’s capacity to provide victim-oriented services that help them reclaim their immediate and long-term safety and stability.
Well House, Grand Rapids, Mich. – $5,000
Well House provides permanent, shared, low-cost housing for people experiencing homelessness. They rehabilitate vacant houses and turn them into multi-unit homes for individuals and families. Support from the SpartanNash Foundation helps cover the costs of ongoing upkeep and minor repairs to 11 occupied homes in the Grand Rapids area.
Supporting our military heroes
Fisher House Foundation, Rockville, Md. – $30,000
Fisher House Foundation provides comfortable housing for military and veterans’ families to stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. They are located near major military and VA medical centers and hospitals. Funding from the SpartanNash Foundation underwrites scholarships for the children of active duty, reserve/guard or retired military personnel.
Solid Ground, White Bear Lake, Minn. – $10,000
SpartanNash Foundation grant funds support Solid Ground’s HomeFront supportive housing program for veterans who have experienced long-term homelessness. HomeFront provides 10 units of supportive housing to two single veterans and eight veteran families at Frost-English Village, a 50-unit apartment building in Maplewood, Minn. In 2017, HomeFront provided housing to 37 adults and children in 12 families.
Vetshouse Inc., Chesapeake, Va. – $30,000
Vetshouse is a unique nonprofit organization serving homeless veterans in Hampton Roads, Va. The SpartanNash Foundation is proud to support Vetshouse and their mission to provide housing, food, clothing, counseling and other assistance to homeless veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces in order to facilitate their return to gainful, independent, responsible and productive lifestyles. Their 12-month program provides contemporary living quarters in a group environment, assisting in job hunting, transportation, personal skills and development guidance.
ThanksUSA, McLean, Va. – $6,000
The SpartanNash Foundation is proud to support the children and spouses of our military heroes by underwriting two scholarships in Michigan and Virginia. Scholarship applications are accepted beginning in April and are evaluated and chosen using the following criteria, among other considerations:
- They must be a spouse or dependent of an active duty servicemember (including Guard and Reserve members)
- Children and spouses intend to enroll in an accredited two-year or four-year college, university, vocational school or technical school
- Stated financial need on the part of individual or family
Give an Hour, Bethesda, Md. – $10,000
Give an Hour provides unlimited, confidential and free services outside the military through a network of nearly 7,000 volunteer licensed mental health professionals. Since they began providing free mental health services in 2005, their providers have donated more than 250,000 hours of care, worth more than $25 million. Through a grant from the SpartanNash Foundation, Give an Hour will increase its provider base and outreach services throughout Michigan.
Warriors at Ease, Silver Springs, Md. – $10,000
Warriors at Ease was established in 2011 to support the health and healing of our military heroes, specifically those impacted by PTSD, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, chronic pain and other conditions relating to service in the military. Their growing network of more than 1,000 teachers have been specially trained to share yoga and meditation safely and effectively with more than 16,000 servicemembers, veterans and their families annually. Funding from the SpartanNash Foundation provides physical training materials and on-site training to yoga instructors.
Past grant recipients
Since 2015, the SpartanNash Foundation has awarded grants to more than 50 nonprofit organizations throughout the communities we serve.
Each year, our wholesale and MDV distribution centers also personally select local food pantries to receive $5,000 donations through the Foundation. This annual tradition goes back to 2004, and the company’s distribution centers have donated more than $1 million to community food bank and pantry partners as a result.
Many of our associates also volunteer at the nonprofit organizations we support through the SpartanNash Foundation, continuing our commitment to giving back to the communities where we live, work and play.
The grant will provide support in the forms of food, shelter and counseling to men while they are in recovery and preparing for productive futures.
Casa de Esperanza is a national Latina Network that operates El Refugio, a 24-hour emergency shelter for victims and their children. El Refugio is located in the Twin Cities (Minn.) and serves a seven-county area. In 2015, 23 women and 27 children stayed at El Refugio an average of 61 days.