We greatly appreciate your support!
Ways to Give
Builders Circle, Planned Giving, Give Online or by Check, Giving Programs
The number of people needing food assistance rose by 49% in 2023 as the costs of living in the greater Charlottesville community, including the cost of food, have increased. Your support helps us respond to growing numbers of pantry visitors in 2024: we are giving a week's worth of free groceries to an average of 633 individuals coming to each of our four distribution days a week. That's more than 10,000 people a month relying on Loaves & Fishes for their household's food, and an increase of more than 100% over previous years.
Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry has provided free groceries to people in need in Charlottesville since 2004. Our partnerships with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, several local grocery stores, and wholesale food vendors allow us to "stretch" donated dollars to provide healthy groceries to as many people as visit the pantry. Your donation of money will help us meet our community's needs. Donations are tax-deductible.
Join the Builders Circle
The Builders Circle is our core group of supporters whose $1,000+ annual gifts sustain pantry operations. Loaves & Fishes relies on this group for 25% of our annual operating budget. To join the Builders Circle, contact Jane Mills at executivedirector@cvilleloaves.org, or come by the Pantry to meet our staff.
Your Impact:
$1,000 = a week's worth of food for 134 people
Thanks to all our donors, no matter how big or small the contribution! We could not do what we do without you! For a list of 2023 donors, visit the 2023 Impact Report page.
Give Online
Use our secure PayPal page to donate online by credit card or with a PayPal account.
Ongoing monthly or quarterly donations help sustain our mission throughout the year. Currently, almost 100 people sustain Loaves & Fishes' operations with multiple gifts throughout the year.
We greatly appreciate your support!
Mail a Check
Many donors set up Loaves & Fishes to receive a regular donation through their bank's online "bill pay" system.
If you prefer to donate by check, mail it to:
Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, Inc.
2050 Lambs Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901
Giving from an IRA
A gift of retirement assets, including IRAs and qualified plans (a 401(k), for example), can provide a tax-efficient way to support Loaves & Fishes. Loaves & Fishes will receive the assets free of income (and estate) tax, allowing 100% of the value to be applied to the charitable purpose you designate. To make Loaves & Fishes a beneficiary of all or part of a retirement account, you simply need to complete a new beneficiary designation form from your plan administrator. (Often, this can be done online.) You can modify your beneficiary designation at any time if your circumstances change.
And, if you are least 70½ years old, you are eligible to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA. A distribution to Loaves & Fishes is excluded from your federal taxable income and counts toward your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD), if you're 73 or older.
Planned Giving
Legacy or planned gifts offer flexible ways to extend your philanthropy beyond your lifetime and increase the impact of your giving. If you want to help build the Loaves & Fishes’ long-term financial strength and ensure that it continues to serve those in need but you are not comfortable giving a significant portion of your assets today, consider making a charitable bequest under your will or revocable trust or a gift of retirement assets.
To make a charitable bequest to Loaves & Fishes, your attorney can insert a provision in your will or revocable trust leaving to Loaves & Fishes a specific dollar amount, a gift contingent upon certain events, or a percentage of your residuary estate (what remains after taxes, expenses, and other bequests have been paid). Because it is not payable until death, a bequest does not affect your assets or cash flow during your lifetime. A bequest also is revocable—you can modify your bequest if your circumstances change.
Consult your legal or tax adviser if you are interested in learning more about planned gifts in general or have questions about the options described above.
Gift of Appreciated Stock
Loaves & Fishes accepts gift of appreciated stocks through our Charles Schwab account. Please contact Executive Director Jane Colony Mills at executivedirector@cvilleloaves.org or by calling 434-996-7868 for trade information.
Gift from a Donor-Advised Fund
You can make a gift directly to Loaves & Fishes from a donor-advised fund with Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, Raymond James, and many more. Our Tax ID is 45-1498743.
NAP Tax Credits
Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry participates in the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) Virginia Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP), which was created by the General Assembly in 1981 to encourage businesses, trusts, and individuals to make donations to approved 501(c)(3) organizations that serve low-income persons. Since July 2014, Loaves & Fishes has been fortunate to be awarded an allocation of tax credits that we give at 50% of the gift value to donors who give a minimum of $1,000 to support Loaves & Fishes' programs to feed the hungry (i.e., for a gift of $1,000, a donor receives $500 in tax credits).
If you are interested in receiving NAP credits for a donation between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, please contact Executive Director Jane Colony Mills at executivedirector@cvilleloaves.org or by calling 434-996-7868.
Giving Programs
Kroger Community Rewards
If you have a Kroger Plus card, go to www.kroger.com/communityrewards, select "View Details" under I'm a Customer and sign in. (If you haven't used the site before, create an account using your Kroger Plus card number.) On the Community Rewards page, click/tap Enroll Now. Enter your name and address. Enter DL975 to select Loaves & Fishes. Now, when you shop with your card, Kroger donates to the Pantry!
*If you don't have a Kroger Plus card, sign up for one at the service desk at any Kroger store.
If you are a Commonwealth of Virginia employee, donate to Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry using CVC code 200168. We greatly appreciate your support and the support of your fellow employees!
Does your employer have a Matching Gift Program?
If your company has a matching gift program, request access to the Matching Gift form (paper or online).
The donor then completes the form after making their initial nonprofit contribution as a way to request a match from their employer.