Reduce

Recycle & Dispose

Resources

Menu

Capacity Building Mini Grant for Food Recovery Organizations

The Food Recovery Organization Capacity Building Mini Grants provide funding to support of recovery or donation of surplus edible food that would otherwise go to waste, thereby increasing capacity for businesses to donate food and/or organizations to receive more food, safely transport, and distribute food for donation.

The purpose of this grant is to help build the capacity of food recovery organizations and services to increase the safe recovery of edible surplus food generated by grocers, supermarkets, wholesale food vendors, contract food service providers, food distributors, and other food businesses in Sonoma County, and redistribute edible surplus food to feed people through food donation. Funding is available for non-profit organizations such as food pantries, food banks, community or faith-based organizations, and food recovery services.

Zero Waste Sonoma has allocated $25,000 in mini grants to help FRS/FROs build their capacity to rescue excess edible food from Tier 1 and Tier 2 Edible Food Generators (EFG). If an FRS/FRO decides to accept donated food from an SB 1383 mandated food donor, they are required to do the following:

  • Establish a contract or written agreement with the mandated food donors
  • Keep records of the total pounds they collect from mandated food donors
  • Report the total pounds collected in the previous calendar year to Zero Waste Sonoma

Applications will be reviewed and approved in the order they are received; first come, first served. Applications for equipment or items above the limit of $5,000 will only be reimbursed for $5,000. Applications will continue to be processed until $25,000 grant limit is reached, or until June 30, 2024, whichever comes first. The application window opens on January 1, 2024 and closes June 14, 2024.

The minimum funding per applicant is $500 and the maximum is $5,000 per applicant.

A variety of capacity-building supplies and equipment is available. Applicants are not limited to purchasing from a certain brand. See examples of eligible items below.

PLEASE NOTE: Funding is limited, and available only on a first come, first served basis. Every effort will be made to update or disable this page as needed, however Zero Waste Sonoma may not be held responsible if this funding runs out before you are reimbursed.

Download a list of acceptable capacity building items

Download

Download, fill out with wet signature, scan, and attach to your form submission below or email to zws-sb1383@sonoma-county.org. This is necessary in order to receive reimbursement for eligible products/services.

DOWNLOAD W-9 FORM HERE

*Please ensure your W-9 has a wet signature

The City or Town your Organization is located
Please provide the address of where we will mail the reimbursement check.
Please provide the name to whom we will address the check.
Describe the proposed use of grant funding including which product types you wish to purchase to expand your food recovery capacity.
Please enter the dollar amount requested for the capacity building reimbursement. Minimum is $500 and maximum is $5,000. Please include tax and shipping.
Please provide your most recent W9 when submitting your first claim. As a public agency, we require a W9 to transfer you public funds. Attach an image or PDF of the establishment's W-9 form with a wet signature, or email to zws-sb1383@sonoma-county.org.