Less than three years ago, Chicago-based Vivery Community had one food bank using its free Find Food mapping technology to help people find pantries. Now 82 food banks in 32 states are using the maps, and 6.5 million searches have occurred on the platform since its start.
That strong momentum makes it plausible that Vivery may actually reach its goal of having every food bank in the nation using its technology to support people in search of food. While Find Food is based on Google maps, it was developed in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, specifically to suit the needs of food banks, pantries and their clients.
Meghan Zimmerman, Interim Executive Director of Vivery Community, credits the technology’s expansion to its strong fit in a food-bank market that’s eager for better solutions to helping people find food resources. “The growth has predominantly been organic, through word of mouth and referrals from our food banks,” she said.
Find Food addresses one of the major problems that occur when food-pantry seekers go online to find out where they can get food. Often, key information – like when a food pantry is open or whether certain languages are spoken – is either unavailable or outdated. Vivery addresses that problem by putting the pantries in charge of updating their own information on the Find Food platform.
Vivery nudges pantries toward participation during an eight-week onboarding process, in which it sends a series of emails, offers webinars, and provides a variety of ongoing support mechanisms. At the end of the process, usually about half of a food bank’s pantries have updated their information on the site, and the numbers continue to grow over time.
Currently, about half a dozen food banks have 100% of their agencies onboarded and updated. Once onboarded, pantries can also choose to take advantage of Vivery technology to help them launch their own website and use text messaging to keep in touch with clients.
Usually, Vivery is replacing custom-built solutions or Word Press plug-in maps, generally built and managed by the food banks. “They’re always trying to keep it up to date, which is a big headache for them,” Zimmerman said.
As Vivery adds more food banks, it is building interconnected, contiguous maps that showcase all of the pantries operating in a region, even if they are associated with different food banks. Already, Vivery has built six statewide food maps and is closing in on a couple more statewide implementations.
On the backend of all that interconnectedness, food banks can access statewide views of all the resources being offered through pantries, as well as languages spoken and dietary options. They also can get insights into what people are searching for. In one case, Vivery was able to highlight a need for diapers in an area, based on searches in an area that were going unfulfilled. From a national perspective, Vivery could also help food banks coordinate and mobilize resources, say in response to natural disasters.
Perhaps the biggest reason that Vivery’s Find Food is seeing such swift uptake is that it is available for free. Vivery Community is a public charity created by the Thierer Family Foundation, whose mission is to help nonprofits be more impactful through technology.
Donations and grants, such as from the American Heart Association, help Vivery bring its technology and programs to every food bank and pantry at no cost. In addition to its Find Food platform, Vivery is also working on technology to advance Food is Medicine and will have an announcement about its progress in that area in the fall. – Chris Costanzo
PHOTO, TOP: Clicking onto the search results from Atlanta Community Food Bank’s Vivery-powered map reveals lots of details about the listed pantries.
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