Second Harvest Heartland

“The form 990 is prepared by our auditor with support from staff at second harvest heartland. The finance committee of the board reviews and approves the form 990 which is then provided to all board members prior to filing.”

“Upon hiring, employees are provided a copy of the conflict of interest policy. Human resources retains a signed copy from each employee stating they understood and accepted the terms of the policy. Members of the board are required to provide a signed agreement annually.”

“Second harvest heartland periodically uses external surveys to evaluate all employees' compensation. Shh also uses other compensation sources as well as considering the cost-of-living adjustment per the federal social security administration guidelines, the consumer price index, and wage and salary trend reports to determine an appropriate average annual percentage. An average increase based on second harvest heartland's financials is approved for budgeting purposes. Employees are given a performance appraisal and a recommendation of an increase (if merited) is made to the executive team. Second harvest heartland utilizes an outside compensation consultant to conduct a market analysis of ceo and executive compensation, reporting on both base pay market median and variable pay market median. The market analysis is focused on organizations that match second harvest heartland in size, scope, and region. The formal analysis is completed routinely and not less frequently than every two years. In the off-cycle years, trending data is used to determine movement in ceo and executive pay and is used in consideration when making adjustment recommendations or when making a determination that an off-cycle market analysis is advisable. The market data is reviewed by the board of directors as it relates to establishing ceo compensation. The ceo makes the final determination of salary increases for other executive compensation, excluding thier own, based on individual performance and position relative to the market median.”

“Copies of all information are available upon request. Form 990 is made available through the organization's website.”

“At second harvest heartland, we work to end hunger together, leveraging our unique position in the emergency food chain as one of the largest, most efficient, and most innovative hunger-relief organizations in the nation, to make an impact. In addition to working to reduce record hunger today, we are working to prevent hunger tomorrow through public policy advocacy, new partnerships, and innovative programming. Second harvest heartland serves as a wholesale distributor for our region's emergency food system, sourcing food from growers and farmers, manufacturers, grocery stores, and restaurants. We then deliver this food to over 1,000 program partners across 41 counties in minnesota and 18 in western wisconsin, accounting for the vast majority of the food distributed by the food shelves and other hunger-relief programs in our service area. With demand for food assistance at an all-time high, we provided more than 145 million meals to the community in fiscal year 2024. Of the 167 million pounds of food distributed last year, 64% was fresh produce, meat, dairy, and bakery items. We work to source locally whenever possible, receiving 10.4 million pounds of produce, 7.4 million pounds of dairy (including 822,871 gallons of milk), and 3.1 million pounds of meat and eggs from minnesota farmers and producers. In 2024, kitchen coalition, our prepared-meals initiative, delivered 1,319,935 fully prepared meals to minnesotans without the home, health, or ability to cook for themselves. In partnership with 112 community organizations, meals were distributed where they were needed most. On average, more than 50% of the ingredients in each meal were sourced by second harvest heartland. 23 kitchens participated in the collaborative, employing around 70 food service workers weekly and investing $7.6 million in local businesses. Foodrx, our medically tailored nutrition box program, provided services to support a healthy diet and improved health of 14,946 individuals through four service categories: foodrx chronic disease management program, foodrx stability boxes, snap referrals, and community resources. We also provided commodity supplemental food program (csfp) food boxes to 228 unique distribution sites in 41 minnesota counties, serving approximately 5,360 seniors monthly. Our new care center, launched in fall 2023, is a hub for finding food resources, offering live support for neighbors seeking food today and helping with enrollment in other relevant programs, including snap. Our care center team processed over 15,500 new client referrals and assisted over 7,700 households with snap (supplemental nutrition assistance program) applications and re-certifications. This support provided households with more than 4.9 million meals from snap last year. Second harvest heartland also provided $1,444,098 in grant funding to hunger-relief partners to help meet increased need and address food access challenges due to rising costs and other issues facing minnesota families. Among other needs, these grants helped support partners as they continue to address rising food shelf visits, increase their capacity, and provide services in new ways to support neighbors. Our volunteer base is critical to our operations. Last year, volunteers visited second harvest heartland 35,597 timesfrom food sorting and packing to client assistance to skill-based volunteer projects and morecontributing 71,371 total hours. Volunteers donated the time equivalent to nearly 34 full-time employees, based on the average hours per year worked by a full-time employee: 2,080. In 2024, second harvest heartland announced a bold moonshot goal to cut hunger in half for all minnesotans by 2030. With the help of food banks, food shelves, policymakers, business leaders, neighbors and nonprofit organizations, we'll reduce hunger today by increasing access to emergency food, prevent hunger tomorrow with policy, partnerships and one-on-one services, and track progress to ensure we're effective”

“The organization did not change its oversight process or selection process during the tax year.”