1.3 million New Yorkers face hunger and food insecurity. This project will combine the nationally-recognized map-making software of HungerMaps.org with New York City's most comprehensive database of over 1,200 soup kitchens and food pantries and the Donate Now API to increase the capacity of hunger response in NYC. 

As a result, users will be able to use an existing Google Maps interface lauded by TechSoup to locate and donate to emergency food providers in their neighborhood. This grassroots fundraising strategy will both address the under-capacity of many NYC soup kitchens and food pantries to feed a growing number of clients and personalize the monumental scale of hunger in NYC, allowing donors to target their contributions at the local level.

HungerMaps.org is the nation’s first GIS mashup to support anti-hunger advocacy and service provision, transforming local data into a national portrait of needs and resources as the basis for direct action. At the heart of HungerMaps is a free, user-friendly GIS mapping interface that enables registered users to upload local data and create interactive, online maps on-the-fly.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) represents the more than 1,200 nonprofit soup kitchens and food pantries in New York City and the more than one million low-income New Yorkers who are forced to use them. The Coalition works to meet the immediate food needs of low-income New Yorkers and enact innovative solutions to help them move "beyond the soup kitchen" to self-sufficiency.

35.1 mil Americans face hunger and food insecurity. HungerMaps.org is the nation’s first GIS mashup to support anti-hunger advocacy and service provision, transforming local data into a national portrait of needs and resources as the basis for direct action.

At the heart of HungerMaps is a free, user-friendly GIS mapping interface that enables registered users to upload local data and create interactive, online maps on-the-fly. Users can then share their maps and datasets through email, widgets and – to our knowledge – the first software capable of turning live Google mashups into print-worthy PDFs.

Now in it’s second year of operation, HungerMaps’ users from Alabama to Alaska are using data visualization to engage volunteers, donors, colleagues and elected officials in the fight against hunger. Outside the anti-hunger movement, HungerMaps’ innovative approach has led to its use in college courses at the University of California and recognition by nutritionists in Today’s Dietician magazine.

HungerMaps also provides paid software-as-a-service to organizations that want maps tailored to their specific objectives. In Seattle, HungerMaps has worked with the Seattle Public Utilities to create a map facilitating donations between soup kitchens and restaurants, saving tons of food that would otherwise go to waste.

HungerMaps is discussing partnerships with corporate entities, national groups, and more local users in the coming year. Through these efforts, HungerMaps aims to break the habit of late technology adoption among nonprofits and lead the wave of “best in class” online map creation and presentation.