Become a Food Donor
If you’re a retailer, manufacturer, restaurant, hotel, caterer, wholesaler, school, or corporate cafeteria interested in donating excess food, please fill out our Food Donation Form. A Gotham representative will be in touch within two business days to explain the process and answer any questions you have.
Remember, all food donations are exempt from liability under the BIll Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and the Food Donation Improvement Act, which protects businesses and individuals that donate food in good faith.
Benefits of Donating
There are numerous benefits for donating food, including:
Tax deductions
The Internal Revenue Code allows businesses to deduct the cost of producing donated food and up to half the difference between the cost and fair market value. Businesses may also be able to deduct up to 15% of their taxable income for food donations.
Reduced costs
Donating food can help businesses manage inventory and reduce warehouse, disposal, and sanitation costs.
Community engagement
Donating food can help businesses promote goodwill and enhance their reputation. Customers may view a business as more caring when they see its commitment to giving back to the community. Donating food can also boost employee engagement, as employees may feel good about helping to feed the hungry.
Our Existing Donors
Impact Stories
Genji, the largest sushi provider to Whole Foods, makes high-quality, beloved sushi rolls every day. But, whatever went unsold was thrown out at the end of the day.
We partnered with Food Donation Connection, Whole Foods national food donation liaison, and began rescuing sushi from five Manhattan Whole Foods locations.
IMPACT
Each store yields 20 to 40 excess meals per day, which are now feeding 100 to 200 people daily.
Famed Upper East Side butcher Schaller & Weber used to destroy close to 10,000 pounds of high-quality frozen meat each year because they had nowhere to donate it.
The large food rescue organizations could not accomodate a once /year donation, and local pantries could not handle the quantity. This is where Gotham Food Pantry was able to help.
IMPACT
We coordinated the delivery of 10,000 pounds of meat to the Dyckman Houses in Inwood, where it was distributed among residents in under 90 minutes. And, Schaller & Weber received tax benefits for their donation.
Reduce costs, help people and the environment
Our food donors have helped rescue over 6,000,000 lbs of food! Why not become one of them?