Food Waste Reduction Network – Mapping Project

This network is made up of a variety of organizations including food rescue and food donation, gleaning, composting, environmental advocacy, waste management, farming, and more. As you know, food waste reduction efforts require comprehensive approaches throughout the supply chain. These efforts benefit from shared infrastructure, resources, and information. The Collaborative seeks to support network building that enhances these important connections.

Process

To understand the gaps and opportunities for stronger connections and help increase the effectiveness of the network, we will be piloting a network mapping process.

1. Survey (Current Step)
2. Map connections
3. Evaluate gaps & opportunities
4. Update connections (ongoing)
5. Strengthen network effectiveness & collaboration within the broader field

The survey includes basic identifying information, details about your work, and relational questions that identify important connections to other participating organizations in the food waste reduction network. 

The data will be used to create an initial network map that we hope will change and expand over time, showing stronger connections. It will also serve as a reference tool with information about organizational network members.

To be most effective, we need as many network participants to complete this survey as possible.

If you need to update your responses, reach out to Emily. She will change the status of your submission to re-open it and then you will use the same link to return to your answers. 

Survey Questions

1. Organization
2. Organization Mission
3. Position Title
4. Role
5. Organization Type
6. Location
7. Counties Served
8. Service Area
9. Please select organizations who are key to the success of your food waste prevention & reduction work. 
10. What is the nature of your connection to this organization? (Transactional, Collaborative, Informative, Supportive)
11. On average, how often do you interact with the organizations you selected per month?
12. In 1-2 sentences, describe this institutional relationship
13. Use this space if there is additional context you would like to provide
14. Who would you like more connection to?
15. In 1-2 sentences, why is this connection important?
16. Are there categories of partners you are interested in having a stronger connection to? (composters, farms, food recovery orgs, environmental justice orgs, individual advocates, gleaning programs, grocery stores, restaurants, other food providers, etc.) 
17. Please list additional partners who are key to the success of your food waste prevention & reduction work that are not currently part of the network. Consider the types of relationship outlined earlier (transactional, collaborative, informational, supportive). 
18. Networks can serve a variety of purposes for participants. Which of the following benefits are most important to you? Which is the network providing and which would you like more of?
19. If you selected “would like to get from network” for any items above, what would help accomplish that?
20. Is there anything else you’d like to share about what supports your participation in this and similar types of networks? Are there any barriers to participation?

Frequently Asked Questions

Should more than one member from our organization complete the survey?
Each organization should only submit 1 response to the institutional relationship questions (Q8-15). However, we would like each individual from the organization who participates in the network to submit a response. Therefore, the group can coordinate answers to the relationship questions and appoint one person to submit their survey with those answers. The rest can submit without those. 

What if our work encompasses more than just food waste reduction?
For the relational questions (Q8-15) please focus specifically on your food waste related work. 

The connection type question is about what we receive from other organizations. What if we provide transactions, technical assistance, or other support?
You can include relationships where you give, receive, or have a mutual exchange. If the connection doesn’t quite match the connection types, feel free to add context in the optional description fields. 

How will my responses be used?
The network map will include “Nodes” that identify your organization, its mission, its geographic reach, and its connections to other organizations in the network. The network map may include “Nodes” that identify you as an individual and your role. The map will be shared on our website and potentially via other platforms too. There will periodically be an open call to update the connections you submitted for the map. You can also reach out to us at anytime to make a correction as needed.