About Membership
The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia works with over 220 community-based nonprofit partners. Each of these partners manage their own food pantry or distribution to neighbors in need. Members get food from the Food Bank in three different ways:
- Ordering case amounts through Online Ordering
- Visiting the Sharing Floor for smaller amounts of food
- Ordering a Mobile Pantry for day-of distributions
The online inventory system provides bulks, cased items for distribution. All items are ordered in case (usually 12 or 24-packs) or pallet-size quantities. The Sharing Floor provides supplemental food and is a lot like a grocery store, allowing members to hand select less-than-case amounts of food from the shelves or pallets of miscellaneous product. Mobile Pantries contain a pre-selected variety of food that is delivered directly to food distribution locations. These are intended for day-of distributions.
If your organization is interested in becoming a member of the Food Bank, please read through the benefits and requirements of Food Bank Membership. If you still have questions or need more information, visit our Staff Page to find your county’s Food Access Coordinator.
Benefits of Food Bank Membership
- Join a regional network of 200+ members united to increase food access
- Opportunity to leverage food at a fraction of market cost
- Access to the Food Bank Annual Membership Conference
- Receive the latest in food safety and handling best practices
- Ongoing training and technical assistance
Requirements for Food Bank Membership
- Organization must be a 501(c)3 or church/religious organization
- Must be within our 14-county service area
- Annual $100 membership fee
- Must contribute to transportation, acquisition, and storage of food through a Shared Maintenance Fee of $0.18/pound of food
- Must attend New Member Orientation (June 27, September 26, December 5 in 2024)
- Must complete annual civil rights and food safety trainings
- Must agree to initial site visits and annual on-site check-ins
When you are ready to apply, review the Member Application. Potential members can submit applications four times a year, in May, August, November, and February. After processing applications, one of the Food Access Coordinators will be in contact to move forward with onboarding. The next new member orientation will occur on June 27th at the Athens and Clayton campuses.
New Member Application Timeline
Starting in May 2024, membership applications will open quarterly, during the months of May, August, and November. It will take our Food Access Coordinators one to two weeks to process and contact applicants after applications close. Orientation for new members will be held in the following month. Please note that the November application period is abbreviated due to the winter holidays. If you celebrate a holiday during the orientation period, please let us know and we will schedule a time that works for your organization.
Click here to see our 2024 application and orientation schedule.
Applications are currently closed.
If you would like to be notified when applications open again, please follow the link below:
Paper copies of the Membership Application are available on request.
