FFEN donors provide consistent support
As the new year ramps up, a group of loyal monthly FFEN donors are contributing behind the scenes to provide stability and support to Minnesota’s food shelves.
Their dollars are helping food shelf leaders learn about handling and merchandising fresh foods, incorporating the voice of the food shelf shopper into their work and creating efficiencies in their operations.
“Our monthly donors make a significant positive impact, ensuring that food shelves can receive ongoing tailored support when they need it,” said Kate Burggraff, FFEN’s executive director.
While some donors said donating monthly helps with budgeting and makes it seem like a lesser expense when parsed out throughout the year, others said monthly payments are a way to contribute without having to give it much thought.
Becoming a monthly donor is simple and the beginning of the year is a wonderful time to get started. To join, simply go to www.ffen.org/donate and change the donation schedule to “monthly.”
Read below about why monthly donors give:
Killian Rieder and Jeff Julkowski, donors since 2014, monthly donors since 2021.
Rieder and Julkowski spent years providing matching funds for FFEN’s Give to the Max Day campaign and in 2021, began donating monthly to the organization.
“This is an amazing organization that actually helps food shelves run better,” Rieder said.
The change to a monthly donation allows the family to contribute while maintaining its budget, Rieder said, and it helps FFEN know what kind of gift to anticipate for the year.
“It helps us, and it helps the charity,” she said.
Rieder said she appreciates that FFEN provides guidance and support to food shelf leaders, staff, and volunteers. That support, she said, is important so food shelves can keep doing work in the communities they serve.
Rieder’s mother volunteered at the local food shelf and her work there through the years inspires Rieder’s own giving. She and Julkowsi aim to financially back organizations where a substantial percentage of funds go toward the mission rather than administrative costs.
Ben Fisher, monthly donor since 2019
Ben Fisher is a skilled, pro bono volunteer with FFEN who assists with technical support. He began donating at the same time he started volunteering.
“It seems like an effective and efficient way to sustain and help the mission of FFEN,” Fisher said. “It’s just something I do at this point. It’s something FFEN is able to count on and has that budget line item there every month.”
For Fisher, volunteering is a way to contribute skills and expertise to the organization, but he said he learned long ago that nonprofits also need dollars to back the work.
“I hope my volunteering makes an impact, but I know my donation makes an impact,” he said. “I can give my time and do things for you but at the end of the day you need money to run the organization. I’m able to do both and I’m glad to be able to do that.”
Hunger relief, he said, is an easy cause to get behind.
“Inequality is built in, and food insecurity is always going to be an issue for a certain portion of the population,” Fisher said. “What FFEN does appeals to my mindset, capacity building with food shelves and organizational efficiencies, that approach to it, that’s how my mind works.”
