Funding Priorities

The primary goal of the Advocacy, Education and Research grantmaking category is to promote and support sound, effective public and private initiatives that provide lasting help to hungry people.

MAZON supports efforts to change public policy, public opinion and/or improve the operation, administration and reach of government food assistance programs. Some smaller grants help fund the design of community or state food-security policies.

These efforts emphasize the importance of reducing the demand for emergency food by strengthening front-line government food programs, and creating the public and political will needed to end hunger. In doing so, anti-hunger advocacy and public education strengthen the food safety net and help to weaken the link between hunger and poverty.

Examples of the kinds of work we support in this funding area include:

• legislative advocacy that seeks to protect, defend and/or expand access to food stamps and other government food programs;
  
  
• administrative advocacy aimed at monitoring and shaping the implementation of public policies and ensuring government accountability;
  
  
• broad-scale outreach campaigns that help low-income people access federal food programs, like food stamps, WIC and school meals;
  
  
• public education efforts that focus the attention of the public, policymakers and the media on the problem of hunger;
  
  
• litigation and representation to challenge illegal practices that deny food-assistance benefits to eligible low-income people;
  
  
• collecting, reporting and disseminating data on the extent and/or causes of hunger;
  
  
• community organizing and other efforts that empower those affected by hunger to develop hunger solutions and win policy change through collective action.