A Message from The Shared Table Fund

Feeding Community. Supporting Local Restaurants. Sharing the Table.

The Shared Table Fund connects two essential parts of our community: nonprofit organizations doing important work and the local restaurants that are so often asked to help feed the people they serve.

Across Anne Arundel County, nonprofits, schools, and community organizations receive funding to provide programs, services, education, outreach, and events. But those grants often do not include funding for food.

When food is needed, organizations frequently turn to local restaurants for help.

The Shared Table Fund was created to change that model.

About the Fund

Local restaurants are deeply invested in the communities they serve. They donate boxed lunches, sandwich platters, meals for volunteers, food for students and families, and catering for nonprofit programs and community events.

Those donations add up.

For independent restaurants operating on already-thin margins, repeatedly donating food means absorbing the cost of ingredients, labor, packaging, and preparation. At the same time, many nonprofit organizations simply do not have funding available to pay for meals.

The Shared Table Fund creates a bridge between the two.

Through the fund, eligible nonprofit organizations, schools, and community programs can receive financial assistance toward meals purchased from participating local restaurants.

Rather than asking a restaurant to donate an entire meal, the Shared Table Fund helps offset the cost, allowing the organization to feed the people it serves while ensuring that the restaurant receives meaningful compensation for the food it provides.

The goal is simple: make community generosity sustainable.

How It Works

The Shared Table Fund brings donors, community organizations, and local restaurants together.

Community organizations with a demonstrated need for food assistance can request support from the fund. Approved funding helps cover a portion of the cost of meals purchased from participating restaurants, with a target contribution of approximately $10 per person toward eligible meals.

Organizations gain access to food for their programs.

Restaurants are able to continue saying “yes” to their communities without carrying the entire financial burden.

And donors know their contribution is creating a ripple effect by supporting both community programs and the independent restaurants that help make those programs possible.

Why It Matters

Food is often what brings a program together.

It can mean breakfast for volunteers starting an early service project, lunch for students attending an educational program, dinner for families receiving support, or a meal shared by people gathering to strengthen their community.

Yet food is frequently one of the first expenses excluded from grants and program funding.

The result is an informal system that relies heavily on restaurants to fill the gap through donations and deep discounts.

The Shared Table Fund creates a more sustainable approach, one where the cost of caring for our community is shared.

Your Gift Supports Two Parts of Our Community

When you give to the Shared Table Fund, your donation does more than purchase food.

It helps a nonprofit stretch its program dollars further.

It helps a school or community organization provide a meal when its grant cannot.

It helps an independent restaurant cover some of the real costs of ingredients and labor.

And it keeps more charitable dollars circulating within our local community.

One donation. Two community impacts. One shared table.

Give to the Shared Table Fund

Your contribution helps ensure that organizations doing important work throughout Anne Arundel County can feed the people they serve without asking local restaurants to shoulder the entire cost.

Together, we can create a community where restaurants can continue to be generous, nonprofits can focus their resources on their missions, and everyone has a place at the table.

Help us build a more sustainable way to feed our community.