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The cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Galt, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, and the County of Sacramento have developed a regional collaboration, Capital Food Access Alliance. The Capital Food Access Alliance is releasing Edible Food Recovery Microgrants to help local organizations expand their capacity to accept food donations for distribution throughout the community.
Award Amount: Applicants may request a minimum of $5,000 and a maximum of $25,000.
Grant Application Period: Applications accepted June 2024 through November 2024. Applications will be reviewed once per month. Notifications of award will be provided on a rolling basis.
Grant Term: 6 Months
Funds may be used by award recipients for qualified expenditures listed in the awardees approved budget and in accordance with microgrant requirements. Funds must solely benefit food recovery efforts in the Sacramento County region. This grant does not require matching funds or cost-sharing. Funds will be provided upfront. Applicants do not need to request reimbursement.
Capital Food Access Alliance may extend or reopen the application cycle and launch a larger grants program with higher funding limits. Notwithstanding failure to meet the contractual requirements of a microgrant agreement, award of an Edible Food Recovery Microgrant does not preclude an organization or business from applying for future grant opportunities with Capital Food Access Alliance.
Please register at capfoodaccess.org/registration/ to access microgrant information and apply.
Capital Food Access Alliance has hired Abound Food Care to implement edible food recovery programs in the region, including administration of the Edible Food Recovery Microgrants. Abound Food Care is a non-profit organization that works collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to facilitate the recovery of excess edible food effectively and efficiently.
The goals of this grant program include:
Any non-profit organization, business, or public entity operating within the cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Galt, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Sacramento and/or the Unincorporated areas of Sacramento County that collects and/or distributes recovered edible food.
Businesses or services that demonstrate direct support for food recovery organizations and services in expanding their capacity to safely collect and/ or distribute recovered edible food are eligible to apply for a microgrant. Please use the Food Recovery Capacity Builder Microgrant application if you are an entity that will not be directly recovering or distributing excess edible food.
The application requires organizations to provide up to five (5) ‘SMART’ (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) objectives for the proposed request.
S | SPECIFIC: | Objectives should provide the “who” and “what” of program activities. Avoid verbs that may have vague meanings to describe intended outcomes (e.g., “understand” or “know”) since it may prove difficult to measure them. |
M | MEASURABLE: | Objectives should quantify the amount of change expected. The objective provides a baseline point from which a change can clearly be measured. |
A | ACHIEVABLE: | Objectives should be attainable within a given time frame and with available program resources. |
R | RELEVANT: | Objectives are most useful when they accurately address the scope of the problem and steps that can be implemented within a specific time frame. |
T | TIME-BASED: | Objectives should provide a time frame indicating when the objective will be measured or a time by which the objective will be met. |
Examples of ‘SMART’ objectives can be found listed in the application for additional assistance.
Budget Request
The application requires total grant funds requested to be broken down into four categories:
Applicants will be asked to further specify these expenses, including clarification of items/tasks and the budgeted cost associated.
At least two (2) quotes for requested expenditures are required when submitting this application.
Examples of Supplies/Materials
Food Recovery Services/Organizations Staff Expenses: You may request funding for staff time to cover the following costs, not to exceed 10% of your total budget request (maximum of $2,500). For personnel costs clarifications regarding activities, rate, and total hours are required for submission. Please see the Grant Awardee Requirements section for more information about these activities.
Requests to fund staff wages, other than those described above, will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Applicants will be asked to describe the measurable impact of temporary funding for staffing. For example, applicants may request funds to pay an expert to optimize collection routes.
The initial application cycle for this Edible Food Recovery Microgrant program will be June through November 2024. Capital Food Access Alliance may extend or reopen the application cycle and launch a larger grants program with higher funding limits. Abound Food Care is available to assist your organization or business with completing grant applications during this cycle. The Capital Food Access Alliance will review applications once per month, which means your application will be reviewed within 60 days.
If your application requires revisions or further clarification, we will contact you as soon as possible to provide feedback and assistance. If your application is approved for award, you will receive an email with the subject, “Notification of Award of Sacramento County Edible Food Recovery Microgrant,” detailing the next steps. Abound Food Care will continue to work with microgrant recipients to complete the Awardee Required Activities and Reports in your grant term.
Application Submissions | Review Period | Estimated Notification of Award |
June 5 – June 21 | June 6 – July 9 | July 10 – July 12 |
June 22 – July 16 | July 17 – August 6 | August 7 – August 9 |
July 17 – August 13 | August 14 – September 3 | September 4 – September 6 |
August 14 – September 10 | September 11 – October 1 | October 2 – October 4 |
September 11 – October 8 | October 9 – November 5 | November 6 – November 8 |
October 9 – November 8 | November 11 – December 3 | December 4 – December 6 |
Abound Food Care is available to assist you with your application or answer questions. Please use this Zoom Scheduler link to select a meeting time that works best for you. You can also reach us by email at: [email protected].
Awardees must complete the following activities during the grant term. A brief description of these activities is provided in the sections below.
(*specific to food recovery services/organizations)
If your organization or business does not currently have the resources to complete grant requirements, you may request funds for materials and/or support to fulfill these requirements. For example, if your organization does not currently use scales to weigh food, you may request grant funds to purchase scales to track and report this data.
Please visit Sacramento County Environmental Health, Environmental Management Division (EMD)’s website for more information about Food Safety Training. For the Edible Food Recovery Microgrant, awardees must complete the following food safety-related requirements.
Abound Food Care is administering a food recovery survey as part of the regulatory requirements of California Senate Bill SB 1383. The goal of the survey is to better understand your operations and needs. Abound Food Care will analyze the results and provide recommendations about expanding food recovery capacity in the Sacramento County region.
Abound Food Care will coordinate a one-hour feedback meeting, which may be completed virtually. The goal of this meeting is to obtain your feedback about the Microgrant program, challenges your organization is facing and highlight your success.
Awardees must report a quantification of inedible food waste received and disposed of. The goal of this is for Capital Food Access Alliance to learn more about the trends in donations of inedible food so that we may identify opportunities for enhancing generator education and/ or providing additional support to recovery organizations and services. We highly encourage weighing food waste. The second most preferred method of assessment is to report your organic waste service levels and provide photos of how full the organics container is before collection day. Awardees may also propose their own alternative methods of quantification.
Awardees are required to provide a final report as detailed in your agreement. The report is due at the completion of your 180-day (about 6 months) grant term. A final grant agreement may include revised or additional reporting requirements based on your proposed project and application.