As a part of our on-going commitment to hunger-relief in Minnesota, the Foundation For Essential Needs connects local organizations to a number of resources they need to grow and thrive amidst changing conditions and an increased demand for services. FFEN provides access to donor funding and equipment, in addition to the expertise of its own board members and staff, but increasingly, its assistance includes important information resources as well. FFEN's Food Sourcing Analysis (FSA) is a powerful instrument that uses data-driven analytics to give individual food shelves the clearest possible picture of their own operations, while
providing insight into the most important factors to their growth and sustainability.
The FSA presents a food shelf's historical ordering data in a series of easy-to-read graphics
and allows food shelf leaders to directly compare the cost of specific goods to their
importance to their clients. This often allows food shelves to lower costs while increasing
access to important and in-demand items such as fresh produce and other staples. Even
more fundamentally, the FSA provides essential information for organizations hoping to
understand their current operational capacity in relation to the kinds of growth necessary
to meet future needs. The Thief River Falls Area Food Shelf recently went through a period of transition, working
with SuperShelf to transform their operations and increase the value of their services to
their clients. FFEN provided a FSA report to support this change, allowing stakeholders to
make well-informed decisions and maximize the impact of their contributions.
Food Shelf board member Frances Tougas shared that the FSA reports her organization
received “were extremely enlightening and very helpful when working with our volunteers
and board.” She says the reports “really brought to light some of the purchasing practices
we could change to move toward SuperShelf as well as a lot of really good purchasing
practices we were already doing.”