FFEN provides more timely insights, new data
As the new year launches, so does a new version of FFEN’s Food Sourcing Analysis Report (FSA).
The report comes with more timely insights for individual food shelves, earlier statewide benchmarking data, new regional benchmarking data and new visualization tools.
“Now food shelves will have the data to make sourcing or budget changes before they’re halfway through the year,” said Kate Burggraff, FFEN’s executive director.
Request an FSA by Jan. 10 and be the first to take advantage of our newest tools!
FSA’s requested now will cover data from July through December, 2024
All food shelves across Minnesota and Western Wisconsin are eligible to receive a customized no-cost report every six months.
“It’s a regular checkup for food shelves to understand their product mix and their budget considerations,” Burggraff said. “This can be an important moment to intentionally check in on your organizational health and it’s a pretty light lift for food shelves.”
Identify Trends
Angie Cruzen, director of Gather & Grow Food Shelf in Waconia and Watertown, has used the reports for years to identify trends.
“I think the reports really are priceless,” Cruzen said. “The amount of time it would take me to dig in and get those quantitative results, I don’t have time for that.”
The report outlines different categories where a food shelf spends its funds and breaks it down to show, among other things, the highest expenditures at the site as well as the number of pounds the food shelf is providing to each person in protein, produce and dairy. The report also analyzes the various streams of food coming into a site.
“The tool was used to say ‘This is where we’re at, this is where the money is going, these are the areas we need to improve on,” Cruzen said.
New Benchmarks
In the new year, food shelves will receive statewide benchmarking data prior to receiving their individual, custom reports. This will provide a glimpse of what’s happening in food shelves across the state.
“We are seeing some interesting trend lines related to that benchmarking data and we think that’s an important context to understand, it has implications for how food is sourced across the whole system,” Burgraff said. “It is critical that food shelves see those broader trends and how their data fits within them.”
We think it is important to be able to use that data to drive different sector level conversations.”
In 2025, FFEN will also release regional benchmarks for the first time, allowing a look at how different parts of the state operate.
New support tools
The new reports will also introduce new ways to visualize data.
“These support tools can help food shelves take action from the data,” Burggraff said.
Using key metrics, each new report will come with a concrete set of recommendations and action steps for food shelf improvement. Those recommendations, Burggraff said, are more important than ever given the continued increase in demand for food from food shelves.
“It is even more critical for those organizations to have the data to build realistic budgets and service offerings that allow them to serve their community today, tomorrow, next month, and next year,” Burggraff said. “We see the FSA as an important tool to best steward community dollars and organizational impact.”
