New Jersey Food Fund Announces 2026 Grant Recipients
14 funders back New Jersey nonprofits with $2 million to strengthen food security systems
Announcement
Image credit:
Courtesy of the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen Food Pantry.
With support from a Harvest the Future grant, the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen Food Pantry expanded its motel-based food delivery services, providing food tailored to residents’ limited cooking and storage options while connecting them with housing service providers and case managers.
Today, the New Jersey Food Fund announced its 2026 grant recipients. The Fund is awarding $2 million across 27 grants through its Harvest the Future and Grant Navigator grantmaking programs.
Harvest the Future: The Harvest the Future program supports nonprofits that test and scale solutions to strengthen New Jersey's food system. These cash grants support upstream food security solutions, such as establishing new market channels for local farmers in “food desert” communities and testing sustainable delivery systems for homebound residents.
Grant Navigator: The Grant Navigator program awards in-kind grants that pair nonprofits with experienced grant strategists. In 2025, Grant Navigators helped their nonprofits secure more than $3.1 million in grant funding — a better than 10-to-1 return on the Fund’s investment in the program.
“We see this as a solvable problem. We want to connect New Jersey food and resources with people who need them.”
— Brad Preston, Fund Manager
The Fund received a $1 million Regional Innovation Pilot Program matching grant from the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA)—a first-of-its-kind investment from the state. It deployed that support to expand its 2026 Harvest the Future grantmaking. Learn more about this innovative partnership on the OFSA website.
“Our work to defeat food insecurity is at its strongest when our collective efforts are rooted in the communities they’re meant to serve, so I want to thank and congratulate the New Jersey Food Fund and this year’s grant recipients for their tireless work in the fight to defeat hunger. We’ve pushed to keep this work in focus because we’ve recognized that meeting the scale of the need requires partnerships across the board. When we can make sure that every family and every person in New Jersey has access to healthy, nutritious food our communities are healthier and our state is better for it. Efforts like this bring us closer to that vision becoming a reality, and I’m proud to see so many people stepping up for a cause as fundamental as feeding our neighbors.”
— Craig J. Coughlin, New Jersey Assembly Speaker
2026 Grant Work Includes:
Partnering with Food Hubs — Partnerships among New Jersey nonprofits, farmers, and food hubs to open new outlets to sell fresh food, support local agriculture, and cut food waste.
Motel-Based & Unsheltered — Tailored healthy food programs designed for people living in transient or unstable housing circumstances and lack access to cooking tools and cold storage.
Infrastructure Investments — Long-term investments in fresh food access, including refrigerated vehicles, an urban hydroponic farm, and a “groceraunt” community center that provides healthy, ready-to-eat meals.
Community Colleges’ Community of Practice — Projects at New Jersey's 18 community colleges to increase student access to fresh, local food, enhanced by a learning group for leaders from each college.
Food as Medicine — Fresh, local food paired with nutrition education and health care partnerships.
A full list of 2026 grantees can be found on the Grants page of the New Jersey Food Fund website.
“The New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA) believes in multi-sector collaboration and investment. This is integral to building lasting food security for every New Jerseyan. This investment of $1M in Regional Pilot Programming funding is a testament to the State of New Jersey’s belief in the power of collaborative investments that combine philanthropic dollars with public funding. Without the state and the state’s philanthropic community working in tandem here, there simply could not have been as many grants awarded or grants of this size awarded to local partnerships working to make sure no one goes without. OFSA, and the State of New Jersey, are committed to continuing to build public/private partnerships that can seed innovation and build local, resilient food systems that connect locally produced food to communities that want and need access to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food.
I am grateful to Governor Sherrill and her administration, our partners in the previous administration, and our partners in the legislature for making this unique investment a reality. I am especially grateful to Speaker Coughlin for his continued advocacy and support of such innovation. The Harvest the Future grantees are local and regional partnerships working to make sure no one goes without and that as the Garden State, our farmers, urban farmers, and communities are nourishing each other. Meanwhile, the Grant Navigator program grantees are gaining the strategic development support they need to seek and secure funding to scale their more-than-food work that helps neighbors stabilize themselves. Speaker Coughlin championed for the state to invest in communities in this way, through OFSA, and it has been an honor to usher the work to fruition alongside the 14 partners in the New Jersey Food Fund.”
— Mark Dinglasan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate
