Happy New Year! As many of you know, we have been working to streamline your monthly reporting process for some time now, and I’m happy to announce that many of these anticipated changes have been made as of 1/1/23! For most agencies, your December report (due 1/10/23) will be the first one impacted by these changes. The portion of the report where you’ll see the most change is in the recording of donations and purchases from sources other than OFB. Accordingly, it’s important that anyone doing this reporting is aware of these changes and how it will impact your data collection & reporting processes moving forward.

The best place to review detailed instructions for monthly stats data collection procedures is still the Stats Categories Explained document, but here is a recap of the recent changes:

• All specific grocery retailer lines have been removed. We are continuing to reach out to organizations that regularly pick up from grocery stores to make sure these donations are being reported properly. If you have any questions about this, please email retaildonationdata@oregonfoodbank.org.

• All specific food industry donor lines (non grocery stores) have been removed; this data will now be recorded under just one line item (see next bullet point).

• There is now only one line for Local Food Industry Donations (including non grocery stores like Franz, Bob’s Red Mill, Dave’s Killer Bread, etc.). You are being asked to input the sum of all pounds received for the month in the quantity column and to name the donor(s) in the comments column.

• The Urban Gleaners line has been removed. If you receive food donations from this organization, please include those pounds under the Local Businesses/Non-Profits line and make a note of the donor name in the comments column.

• There is now only one line for Shared Pounds from Other OFB Partner Agency. You are being asked to input the sum of all pounds received for the month in the quantity column and to name the donor(s) in the comments column. If you are unsure if an organization is also an OFB partner agency, you can ask the organization, ask someone at OFB (myself or your county’s Food Assistance Network Strategist), or go to the Food Finder website to search there.

• School Pantry sites are no longer asked about skill building activities.

If you have any questions about the changes described above, please contact me at pastats@oregonfoodbank.org.