The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Farm to Community Food Hubs Program received one-time funding of$13.75 million to award as competitive grants for organizations developing and expanding community food hubs in California.
While this program is currently closed, CDFA posts about related grant opportunities often, such as the CA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, California Nutrition Incentive Program, Beginning Farmer and Farmworker Training Program, and more.
CDFA is seeking project proposals from qualified entities to support nutrition incentive shoppers and/or to distribute nutrition incentives to shoppers using a) WIC fruit and vegetable benefits, b) WIC FMNP, and/or c) SFMNP benefits to purchase California-grown fresh fruits and vegetables at authorized Certified Farmers’ Markets.
This program is currently open and closes November 4, 2025. Please refer to their website for more information.
The California Energy Commission offers a variety of funding opportunities to advance the state’s transition to clean energy and transportation through innovation, efficiency, and the development and deployment of advanced technologies.
While not directly related to edible food recovery, some of the CEC’s funding for energy efficiency, research and development, or fuels and transportation may be useful to FROs.
Nonprofits can receive funds through California Climate Investments to reduce climate pollution and provide benefits to priority populations through clean transportation, waste prevention, clean air initiatives, and more.
Current open and upcoming funding opportunities for nonprofits includes programs: California Climate Action Corps (Places full-time fellows with dozens of host partners throughout the state to support state and local climate goals), Drinking Water and Wastewater Program (Provides grants for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects, with a focus on disadvantaged communities), California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (Offers rebates for publicly available, high-powered (150 kW or greater) DC fast chargers deployed at eligible site types within California), Communities in Charge (Offers rebate incentives for Level 2 electric vehicle chargers where communities live and gather to swiftly deploy electric vehicle charging ports), Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (Funding for affordable housing, active transportation, transit, and solar photovoltaic systems), Community Air Protection Incentives (Incentive grants to help owners of older high-polluting vehicles and equipment replace them with newer models that have much lower emissions—or zero emissions), Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (The Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund is a part of the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Program), and more.
The USDA hosts the Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program (CFPCGP).
CFPCGP projects are to include food insecure community members in the planning, designing, development, implementation and evaluation of activities, services, programs, and policies to combat food and nutrition insecurity; and to address underlying causes and factors related to hunger.
SMUD’s Shine awards are available to incorporated nonprofit organizations located in and serving communities within SMUD’s service area. Read the FAQs to learn about eligibility, funding and application details.
While under the USDA Community Food Projects, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Community Food Projects are a competitive grant program that is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
This program includes matching grants ($10K–$250K) to improve food security through multipurpose efforts like fresh food distribution and community resilience.
Projects vary in scope, ranging from community gardens with market stands to marketing and consumer cooperatives, but all must involve low-income participants.
The Sacramento Region Community Foundation offers funding opportunities on behalf of local philanthropists who’ve established charitable funds to support their areas of interest.
This organization has supported several grant opportunities, including Raley’s Food for Families, Senior and Family Services (aims to aid nonprofits in Sacramento County in providing crucial services to seniors and/or low-income families), All Things Right and Relevant Grant (focuses on supporting organizations with programs that provide jobs to people with mental health diagnoses), the Neighborhood Fund (supports impactful organizations providing critical services in Sacramento’s Del Paso Heights neighborhood), and more.
The Sacramento Cooperative Community Fund (SCCF) is an endowment fund founded by the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op in conjunction with the Twin Pines Cooperative in 2001. Each Spring the SCCF awards micro-grants to local non-profit or cooperative organizations for qualifying projects promoting nutrition or health, supporting a healthy environment, meeting basic human needs, particularly nutrition, and/or promoting the cooperative movement.
CalRecycle administers the competitive Edible Food Recovery Grant Program to support new and expanded food waste prevention/source reduction projects in California.
The program keeps food out of California landfills to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Funded projects either collect edible food to feed people or prevent food waste from being created at the source. The Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program previously funded these activities.
Funding is to be determined by the State’s budget. There are currently no funds available and the next announcement is pending.
To catch upcoming grants, some strategies are to follow CalRecycle, specifically their Funding – Food Waste / Edible Food Recovery page. They post Notices of Funds Available when grant cycles open.
Additionally, monitor CDFA’s Farm to Fork program and other CDFA programs, as these grants often re-open or have new rounds of funding available. Watch grant portals, such as Capital Food Access Alliance, California Grants Portal, State and County grant bulletins, or other NGO grant databases (FundsforNGOs, Foundation Center), and network with food recovery nonprofits and coalitions.
