Opportunity Details
About Feeding America As the nation's largest nonprofit and domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America is at the forefront of the fight to end hunger. With an annual revenue of $5.15 billion (2023), which includes 4.7 billion pounds of donated food, Feeding America engages our country and communities in the fight to end hunger on an unprecedented scale, serving as a catalyst at both the national and local levels, reaching every county in the United States. The work is not just about providing meals. On the journey to achieving its mission, Feeding America addresses barriers so everyone can thrive. Specifically, Feeding Americas work includes: Addressing the immediate needs of people facing hunger through the sourcing and distribution of food. Working to reduce rates of food insecurity through innovative programs that bundle food with other critical resources such as healthcare, housing, and economic mobility. Catalyzing the movement to end hunger through policy advocacy and systems change. A People-Centered Approach: Through it all, Feeding America keeps the neighbors it serves at the center of its vision of a hunger-free America. Feeding America is deeply committed to meeting the unique nutritional and health needs of individuals and their communities by leveraging an approach that is people-centered, responsive, and adaptive. The Network: The organization is a nationwide network of over 200 food banks, which distribute food through 60,000 partner food pantries and meals programs. Together, the Feeding America network provides more than 5 billion meals to tens of millions of people across the United States and supports programs that improve food security for the families they serve. Rising Demand: In a country that wastes billions of pounds of food each year, it is shocking that almost anyone in America goes hungry. Yet, there are 44 million people who dont have enough to eat that is 1 in 7 individuals, and 44 million too many. Each year, more than 13 million children (that is 1 in 5) and 5.5 million seniors struggle with hunger. In 2020, the COVID crisis devastated individuals and families and food insecurity grew. The average increase in the number of clients reported by food banks grew by an astounding 60%. Since then driven by record inflation, historically high food costs, reduced federal assistance, and more demand has continued to grow. Through it all, Feeding America and its partners have continued the march to solve hunger, moving quickly and decisively to implement multi-prong strategies that include new systems, distribution, and supply chain, and leveraging and expanding partnerships. Looking Ahead and the Critical Role of Research & Innovation: Feeding America has set the bold aspiration that by 2030 every community and person within it has access to the food and resources that they say they desire and need to thrive; that the food insecurity rate is 5% and disparities by race and place are cut in half. Key to achieving that goal is innovative research-and-evaluation-informed programs and partnerships. Research: Feeding America believes that solving hunger requires a thorough understanding of the problem and is committed to exploring how food insecurity is influenced by drivers including poverty, unemployment, racism, structural oppression, and more. In support of that work, the Feeding America team has a unique opportunity to conduct research that both uncovers and helps to test or prove out innovative programmatic approaches to addressing food insecurity. Released annually, Feeding Americas landmark study Map the Meal Gap looks at overall and child hunger down to the county level. New in 2022, it also includes estimates for select racial and ethnic groups. Another example of Feeding Americas work includes the Elevating Voices: Insights Report, which provides a firsthand snapshot of the experiences, concerns, and ideas of our neighbors who are facing hunger in the U.S. Learn more about Feeding Americas Research here. Innovation: Recognizing that hunger is a complex problem, Feeding America is focused on co-creating in partnership with people experiencing food insecurity and network partners innovative initiatives and external partnerships that can be implemented at scale to improve access to the charitable food system, advancing health equity and outcomes, and increasing economic mobility to alleviate food insecurity. One such example includes the Food is Medicine program, launched in 2019, in which food banks collaborate with health care partners to conduct universal food insecurity screenings and interventions. The effort helps connect people facing hunger to food distribution programs to ensure they have access to healthy food options. In January 2024 it was announced that Feeding America will join the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a partnership that will advance Food is Medicine work to ensure everyone has access to the nutritious food and resources needed to improve health. You can read more about this specific initiative here. Additional examples of Feeding Americas innovation work include Stand By Me, a program that FANO helped support with the Food Bank of Delaware, and the Workforce Development Initiative, a program that helps low-income individuals gain expanded access to resources necessary to acquire new skills and connections that result in higher income employment. Feeding America will be strategically focused on advancing and elevating bodies of work with the potential for the greatest impact, in an unwavering pursuit to end hunger in America. Through those efforts, Feeding America will continue to serve as a thought leader and pioneer, filling the gap left by federal nutrition programs unable to meet the needs of people facing hunger each day. For more information, please visit Feeding Americas website. The Opportunity At this moment of tremendous opportunity, Feeding America is seeking an inspirational, transformational, dynamic, and deeply committed leader to serve as the Chief Research & Innovation Officer. Recognizing the synergies that exist between Research and Innovation, this is a newly scoped role for the organization and represents a unique opportunity with the potential to positively impact tens of millions of lives each year. The Chief Research & Innovation Officer leads the development of Feeding Americas research and innovation strategy; focusing on developing a deeper understanding of hunger, how to design effective solutions for ending hunger in America, and how to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of Feeding Americas work. They lead, inspire, and coach the research and innovation department which works cross-functionally to translate and evaluate research, providing insights for the public, policy makers, donors, Feeding America National Office teams, and Network members to foster awareness and support the work to build a movement to end hunger. The Chief Research & Innovation Officer is responsible for ensuring that Feeding Americas research strategy, program innovation, and systems change work is guided by the engagement and/or input of people facing hunger and partners including other social service organizations, charitable foundations, and network food banks. They will work to ensure that the overall Network approach to research and innovation is coordinated and leverages the best available insights and methodologies. They serve as a member of the Feeding America Executive Team providing enterprise leadership to ensure Feeding America lives into its mission, fulfills its commitment to embracing equity, diversity, and inclusion, and centers neighbors facing hunger in all Feeding America does. As a member of the Executive Team, this leader will be responsible for surfacing promising programmatic opportunities and laying a strong, enterprise-wide foundation for testing, piloting, implementing, and expanding these programs and approaches. The role reports to the President & Chief Operating Officer and leads the Research & Innovation team of 25 professionals (four direct reports include: Director, Initiative Evaluation & Impact; Vice President, Neighbor & Service Insights & Analytics; VP, Food Security & Wellbeing Research & Insights; and VP, Innovative Initiatives & Partnerships). Key responsibilities of the Chief Research & Innovation Officer include: Lead the design, development, and implementation of the organizations research strategy related to food insecurity, health, nutrition, and related social and economic issues and policies with a focus on sharing insights and developing evaluation and measurement methodology that support the work of network food banks. This includes oversight for the development and execution of various research projects to enhance the collection and application of data to inform the work of the national organization and network food banks. Work with internal partners including Communication and Community Engagement, Government Re