I've volunteered at the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Do you want to know where your churches and local groups get their food? They come to a central food bank like the ACCFB, where they can load up. The ACCFB does not directly distribute food to people in need, instead trusting smaller groups to know their community's needs better, so they invite those groups to come get food. Staples, fresh produce, baby food and formula at exactly zero dollars all day long, more "premium" products at a heavily subsidized price.
Do you know what the ACCFB spent money on that wasn't food? A gi-fucking-gantic walk in fridge and freezer, so that they don't have to worry about bulk donations/purchases spoiling. And a large warehouse so that they can take in fresh produce from farmers (often stuff that cosmetically won't sell well) and re-sort it in a way that local organizations can use.
You can see what the executives of non-profits make. The Executive Director of the ACCFB was paid $256K in 2017, for overseeing an organization with $64M in revenue. The rest of the individuals on the Form 990 were in the $103K-$150K range. For full-time Chief/Director work IN THE BAY AREA. In case you've been living under a rock, that's not a good salary.
Every "benefit" to donating food is that you get to feel like stopped someone from tricking you and you're smarter than "all of those rubes" who gave cash. Turns out you're actually being the least helpful donor, and now write smug comments bragging about how you're the least helpful donor trying to reduce the helpfulness of other donors.
ACCFB's Form 990 for 2017: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942...