About Share Our Strength

Historic Events to End Childhood Hunger

Poverty is complex; feeding a child is not. Everyone has a strength and everyone has something to share. Chefs, companies, volunteers and everyday Americans who care.

Share Our Strength^® began in the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill in 1984, in the wake of the Ethiopian famine. Bill and Debbie Shore started the organization with the belief that everyone has a strength to share in the global fight against hunger and poverty, and that in these shared strengths lie sustainable solutions.

Those same principles remain solidly in place today at Share Our Strength as we continue our global efforts to end hunger and poverty with a sharp focus on ending childhood hunger in America. In 2004, we announced our strategy and supporting plan to end childhood hunger in America, we inked our first state partnership to this strategy in 2006, added two more in 2007 along with an historic partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in 2008 unveiled a new brand identity, logo and language to connect us tightly and irrefutably to this priority: to make sure that no child in America grows up hungry.

Through it all, the culinary and foodservice industry has been our steadfast partner of choice.From the beginning, Bill and Debbie tapped the creative talents of chefs, restaurateurs and foodservice professionals, and transformed their love of food and feeding people into a powerful force in the fight against hunger. These professionals continue to bring their passion, energy and ingenuity to our cause in infinite ways. They donate their time, talent, personality and food at our fundraising events. They spread the word about our work to patrons, fans, suppliers and colleagues. They teach cooking classes alongside professional nutritionists so that children and their families can learn how to prepare and enjoy low-cost, nutritious meals together. They sit on our leadership boards and councils, and connect us with corporate sponsors, other nonprofits who need our help, and good, caring people ready to share their strengths along with us. To date, Share Our Strength has raised over $245 million and provided support to more than 1,000 nonprofits around the world who are working to end hunger. Our first event, back in 1988, raised $250,000. We’ve come a long way, but much is yet to be done. Please join us on the journey forward.

Born in the Age of the Foodie

The term “foodie” was born, according to those who monitor such things, in 1984. So was Share Our Strength. No surprise then that our first and still flagship benefit was a child of the foodie era.

In 1988, Share Our Strength pioneered what is still the nation’s largest and finest culinary benefit: Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation^®, presented by American Express. On a single day in April 1988, the best restaurants in 25 cities hosted food and wine tastings to raise funds for Share Our Strength grants. Corporate sponsorship from American Express ensured that we could – and still do – grant 100% of the ticket sales from the events. Those 25 tastings raised nearly $250,000.

Taste of the Nation now spans 55 cities across North America, involves more than 10,000 chefs and restaurateurs and has raised more than $70 million since that first quarter-of-a-million-dollar day. In addition to raising significant funds, Taste of the Nation has raised awareness of the invisible hunger that exists in our country at the local , state and national levels, and has built lasting partnerships among local anti-hunger programs, corporations, foodservice professionals and concerned individuals.

Corporate Sponsorships Make Indelible Mark

Since our founding, Share Our Strength’s creative fundraising programs and networks of volunteers have attracted unprecedented corporate support for the fight against hunger. For over 20 years, we have worked in innovative ways with some of the nation’s most recognized and best loved brands, including American Express, Timberland^® and Food Network, and ConAgra Foods^®, the trusted name behind brands like Hunts, PAM and Healthy Choice, to make sure no child in America grows up hungry.

In 1993, American Express launched “Charge Against Hunger,” a company-wide partnership that became one of the largest corporate commitments ever made to the fight against hunger in America. In the final months of 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996, American Express made a 3-cent donation to Share Our Strength each time someone used an American Express card. The four-year campaign raised more than $21 million, all benefiting Share Our Strength’s hunger-relief work in America.

The campaign also raised our profile and brought the issue of hunger in America to millions of Americans through a national advertising campaign that featured our founder and executive director, Bill Shore. In the end, besides contributing significant funds to our work, “Charge Against Hunger” proved to nonprofits and corporations alike that business goals and community needs can both be met through a united effort.

Today, American Express serves as the presenting sponsor for Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation » and Great American Dine Out». Domino Sugar and C&H is the presenting sponsor of the Great American Bake Sale »; the ConAgra Foods^® Foundation is the national sponsor of Operation Frontline »; and Lexus is the presenting sponsor of A Tasterful Pursuit ».

Sponsorships and cause-marketing partnerships continue to be a vital component of Share Our Strength’s business model. Nearly 30 national business entities lend their financial support and marketing muscle to help us make sure no child in America grows up hungry.

Culinary and Nutrition a Strong Match

In 1993 we created Operation Frontline^®, long before the mainstream was matching culinary with nutrition. The groundbreaking program was born out of a desire on the part of chefs to make a connection with people in need, and out of Share Our Strength’s move toward preventing hunger through nutrition education. The program trains chefs and professional nutritionists to volunteer-teach adults, teens and kids how to prepare healthy, tasty, low-cost meals.

Since 1993, Operation Frontline and its hundreds of volunteer instructors haveconducted more that 4,000 nutrition and financial-planning courses and helpedmore than 45,000 low-income families across the country learn how to eat better for less.

Strength to Create Community Wealth

Our founder, Bill Shore, believes fervently in the transformative power of creating community wealth. So, in 1997, Share Our Strength created Community Wealth Ventures, Inc., (CWV) as a for-profit subsidiary. The social-enterprise consulting firm leverages the power of market-based approaches to drive social change. CWV helps nonprofit organizations become more self-sustaining by generating revenue through business ventures and corporate partnerships. In addition, the firm helps corporations improve their bottom lines by designing and implementing community investment strategies.

Strong into the New Millennium

In 2003, Share Our Strength extended its culinary reach to professional and home bakers all across the country. That year we launched Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale in partnership with PARADE Magazine, and sponsored by Betty Crocker, ABC and Tyson. The campaign encouraged people to raise funds by holding bake sales during the summer and donating the proceeds to Share Our Strength. We, in turn, granted those proceeds to support summer feeding programs at nearly 300 organizations.
Today, Great American Bake Sale is presented by Domino Sugar and C&H. It remains a national campaign that mobilizes Americans to end childhood hunger by holding bake sales in their communities. The proceeds support summer meal and afterschool snack programs, and Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline program. More than 1 million people have participated in Great American Bake Sale since it began, and raised nearly $4 million to make sure no child in America grows up hungry. Great American Bake Sale is supported by national television partner Food Network and national print partner Family Circle magazine.

The Great American Bake Sale took Share Our Strength’s priority of ending childhood hunger to America’s grass roots; in 2007, we created the Great American Dine Out to take the cause to America’s mainstream restaurant patrons. Presented by American Express, Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out is a new national campaign that rallies the nation’s entire restaurant industry to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. For a single week in the fall, thousands of restaurants across America unite and mobilize consumers to dine out and raise millions of dollars to help Share Our Strength end childhood hunger in America.

Into the Future

2004 marked Share Our Strength’s 20th anniversary and with it came self-assessment. After much introspection, research and consultation, we celebrated with a bold yet achievable priority: to end childhood hunger in America. Over the next two years, our leadership crafted a strategy and supporting plan that would lead us to our ultimate goal: to make sure that no kid in American grows up hungry. We are turning that strategy into reality by weaving together a net of community groups, activists and food programs that catches children at risk of hunger and surrounds them with nutritious food where they live, learn and play. Won’t you join us?