A shared maintenance fee (SMF) is a fee that is assessed to Food Bank member agencies on a per pound basis and ranges from 0-18 cents a pound. By assessing the fee on a per pound basis, member agencies contribute to the Food Bank’s overhead (transportation costs, storage, staff, etc.) proportionately, based on their use of the Food Bank’s services. Shared Maintenance Fees account for only 20% of the Food Bank’s overall operating budget.
While a significant part of the Food Bank’s inventory is distributed with a SMF, over 25% of the products distributed during the year have NO SMF assessed. When items with no shared maintenance fees are combined with shared maintenance items, agencies contribute, on average, 10 cents a pound for food.
Shared maintenance is typically the only fee member agencies contribute to the Food Bank. They are not charged a membership or storage fee in order to utilize the Food Bank’s services.
Food Bank member agencies save, on average, $1.58 off of wholesale value by using product from the Food Bank’s inventory.
According to the study Hunger in America 2006, the most comprehensive local hunger study conducted in our service area, many of our agencies depend on the Food Bank. The study pointed out the importance of the Food Bank to its member agencies. 94% of the pantries in the Food Bank’s network, 91% of the soup kitchens and 74% of the shelters said that elimination of Food Bank food would have a significant or devastating impact on their program.
As it is, SMF as a revenue source for the Food Bank provides a sense of effective stewardship to what we do. Without shared maintenance the Food Bank would cease to exist, so it behooves us to solicit donations of desirable products for our network.
By donating to the Food Bank of South Central Michigan companies are helping member agencies have access to a cross section of food. Because the Food Bank serves eight counties, agencies in each county have access to food that is donated in all eight counties instead of just their own county. For example agencies in Hillsdale county not only have access to protein items donated by ConAgra and Bob Evans in their county, they have access to cereal and dairy products from Calhoun county, dough products & yogurt from Kalamazoo county and nutritional supplements from St. Joseph county.
In addition, because of the Food Bank’s affiliation to the Food Bank Council of Michigan and America’s Second Harvest, member agencies also have access to statewide and national resources.
The Food Bank has the capability to ensure donors that their donation is handled properly from the time it is picked up from their facility until it is distributed by one of our 272 member agencies. Because of our refrigerated vehicles and our 45,000 cubic feet of cold storage space in our warehouse we are able to ensure that products are stored at the proper temperature.
The Food Bank has the same high standards for safe food handling as any food distribution center and is inspected by various groups, including the Dept. of Ag, throughout the year to ensure those standards are maintained. In addition, the Food Bank sets standards for our member agency network and monitors them to make sure the standards are met.
With our inventory software, the Food Bank is able to quickly and accurately receipt donors for their donations and provide product traceability and provide recall capabilities for each of the products we handle.