The ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund (Summer 2024 Open Call)

The ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund (Summer 2024 Open Call) is sponsored by ReFED. This program offers restaurants the opportunity to pilot food waste solutions to drive operational efficiency, improve profit margins, and create a competitive advantage. The current open call is focused on accelerating the adoption of food waste solutions.

Supporting Food Waste Solution Providers The ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund Announcing the "Minimizing Methane through Food Waste Solutions" Open Call Throughout the year, we'll be hosting a series of open calls – each with a particular thematic focus area where catalytic grant funding can have the greatest impact – through which grants will be distributed.

We encourage all types of organizations with an initiative related to the Grant Fund’s current thematic focus area to apply for funding. Explore the open calls below. Minimizing Methane Through Food Waste Solutions Congratulations to the grantees for this open call!

Reducing food loss and waste is one of the most powerful levers to cut methane emissions. ReFED’s research shows that scaling food recycling and diversion is one of the most immediate, cost-effective strategies to reduce methane today, while tackling loss within beef and dairy systems can unlock major long-term impact.

This open call for ReFED’s Catalytic Grant Fund was seeking bold solutions and initiatives in two high-impact areas: Advancing food recycling: Enhancing sorting, decontamination, processing, and access to create more effective and efficient systems.

Reducing methane in the beef and dairy sectors: Cutting loss and waste by lowering animal mortality, improving supply chain efficiency to get more products to market, preventing food waste at the household level, and reducing enteric emissions through climate-smart feed additives derived from waste streams. View Open Call Requirements Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit.

Natus impedit libero architecto totam voluptate facilis eum laudantium veritatis esse et? Consectetur sequi earum repudiandae voluptatum vero facere cupiditate veritatis molestias. On-farm produce loss is a major contributor to food waste, with U.S. farms generating more than 17 million tons of surplus food in 2023 alone.

This surplus—nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables—represents a missed opportunity to reach its original intended consumer, all while millions face hunger. ReFED’s Catalytic Grant Fund is seeking innovative technologies, solutions, and initiatives that can boost the harvest of this surplus, maximize its value, and establish new market opportunities while increasing profitability for farmers. Join us in reducing on-farm food loss!

View Open Call Requirements Application period closed Serving Up Food Waste Solutions To Restaurants We often perceive wasted food as the cost of doing business in independent restaurants.

But today, with supply chain disruptions, the growing cost of food, and staffing challenges, those costs are becoming increasingly burdensome, creating an opening to reframe food waste reduction as the critical opportunity it is – to drive operational efficiency, deliver unique customer experiences, improve profit margins, and/or create a competitive advantage.

That's why our current open call for the Catalytic Grant Fund is focused on accelerating the adoption of food waste solutions for restaurants . We're looking for proven or pilot-ready solutions that are simple, affordable, and convenient to implement and/or have a strong business case for small to medium-sized independent restaurants – including increased cost savings, improved staff retention, higher customer acquisition, and more.

And to bolster the catalytic nature of this open call, we're excited to announce that a subset of the selected grantees will get a unique opportunity to pilot their solution with restaurants. Special thanks to our anchor funder View Open Call Requirements Application period closed As a group, consumers are the largest generators of food waste, but it's not always easy for them to change wasteful behaviors.

This first Open Call is focused on solutions and innovations in need of funding that can enable consumers to actively reduce their food waste at home — as well as in restaurant and foodservice settings — by making it obvious, affordable, and convenient.

To bolster these solutions, the Catalytic Grant Fund seeks to support initiatives at a local, regional, and/or national level that include but aren’t limited to: View Open Call Requirements Application period closed Have a question? Fill in our contact form to share your inquiry. The Latest Food Waste News – Straight to Your Inbox