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  • From: "Ray Manley" <rmanley AT iglou.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Donating excess produce to Food banks
  • Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:14:40 -0500

I hate this computer...if I hiccup it will close a message and send it before I finish typing.
 
An IRS 501c3 designation indicates a type of non profit corporation where your donations are tax-deductible.  There are other designations where contributions are deductible too but  I don't know all of them.  But I do know that schools and veterans organizations for example are a different designation under the tax code, but donations to them are still deductible.
 
If you plan on giving and then taking a deduction its best to find out the designation of the  organization and check with your tax person prior to assuming your donations will be deductible.
 
Of course if its a known good organization and your reasons for giving are other than a tax break then follow your heart and donate .  The real benefit to donating is the good you can do.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 9:08 AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Donating excess produce to Food banks

Lucy

Down at Northside FM we had CAIN Ministries come around at the end of market.  Every time they came buy they would have a voucher where they would write the retail amount of the total amount of food given onto the back of a 503c "receipt" with their name and logo on it  (I think its 503c, I'd have to go back and look) .  I think its perfectly reasonable to ask for a receipt since it benefits all parties involved.

You might also want to look at WIC too.  It is a good program though I wish they would expand it.  It generates WIC FM coupons to be used at farmer's markets.  Cut off date to register for this year in the State of Ohio is Feb 1.

Cheers!

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106

Providing quality, healthy food to the following:
Chalk Restaurant
Jean Ro Bistro
Orchids
Local 127
Savor Catering & Events

On Jan 18, 2010, at 6:20 AM, Owsley lucy wrote:

This past year my farm donated well over a thousand pounds of food to a local food bank. The food was stuff that did not sell at that day's market and was not grown specifically to be donated to a food pantry.

My question is how can I take a tax write off doing this? What is the protocol? Do I have to grow specifically for the pantry or is donating like I have-giving them the leftovers for the day (food grown for sale, not donation) acceptable? What kind of record keeping is expected? What tax form will be required for state and federal taxes

And on a similar subject if you are intending to donate to a pantry and they have not accepted produce before, you (or someone who knows about storing fresh whole foods) will have to work with them. A lot of food pantries/food banks are not set up to deal with fresh produce, they have no refrigeration, etc.. So they will try to dissuade you from trying to donate on your own or getting the whole farmers market into it. I have been there done that. But with perseverance and education  you almost always can get them to obtain what they need to start taking and distributing fresh local produce. 

In my situation, 4 years ago when I sat on my Farmers market board I made the suggestion that we as a market start donating excess produce. Everyone loved the idea and we put the plan into action and hit a wall from the get go. It seems that at the time the food pantry was run by two entities-one gov't and one private (Catholic church). They had no refrigeration and did not want our food but certain people with the FM forced the issue by providing big coolers and ice packs to keep the produce fresh until distribution day on Monday. After 2 years of limping around with this situation the gov't side of the food pantry pulled out and gave it all to the local Catholic church. The Church in turn really wanted to continue with getting as much fresh produce as possible so they went and got a grant that did several things-it got them adequate refrigeration for the produce, it got a volunteer up to the market every week from May through Nov to collect the food and it paid for educators to come to the pantry and educate the recipients about food, cooking, nutrition, etc.. Now we have a really good system that works well.


Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
Eaton, OH



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