Food & Friend Coordinator

Facility: Brazos Valley Food Bank (BVFB) | Department: Operations | Reports To: Operations Director

About the Role

The Friend & Food Coordinator is responsible for sourcing and securing in-kind donations—primarily volunteers and food. This role involves recruiting, scheduling, training, and retaining volunteers across the organization, as well as sourcing surplus and donations from local farmers, grocers, producers, and restaurants. The coordinator also manages community food drives, generates social media content, and ensures donor recognition. Work hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday-Friday, with some evenings and weekends.

Responsibilities

Food Securing

• Build and manage a Food Donor database, developing strategies to proactively recruit more food donations and food drives.
• Oversee acknowledgment and recognition of food donations, including sending annual, quarterly, and monthly donor letters.

General Food Drives

• Serve as the main public contact for food drives, confirming registrations and coordinating barrel/banner pick-up or delivery.
• Proactively solicit entities to host food drives, especially during summer months or for most-needed items.
• Work with staff to capture photos of donor drop-offs, collect testimonials, and handle social media content.
• Provide donors with receipts, catalog them for future solicitations, and ensure donations are logged in inventory software.
• Send thank-you letters to participants and create beneficiary letters for food drives.

New Food Sourcing

• Identify new food sources (farms, markets, restaurants) in the BVFB service area for potential donations.
• Develop tracking systems or utilize existing BVFB software for donations.
• Create outreach and education materials about BVFB’s operations, food donation needs, and legal protections for donors.
• Solicit potential food donations via in-person visits, letters, telephone, or email.
• Collaborate with the Operations Director to assess donation appropriateness and schedule pickups.

Food Sourcing Plan

• Create and implement initiatives for the Food Sourcing Plan as required by Feeding America, Feeding Texas, and Houston Food Bank.
• Report outcomes, key learnings, and strategies for improvement.
• Maintain positive relationships with food donors and potential donors.
• Use social media to recognize new donors and promote food collection strategies.
• Research and utilize Network resources to build relationships with other food banks.
• Manage the “Most Needed Items” list with the Operations Director.
• Utilize partner survey data to understand and source needed items.

Donor Stewardship Plan

• Create and implement initiatives for the Donor Stewardship Plan as required by Feeding America, Feeding Texas, and Houston Food Bank.
• Plan donor appreciation events and activities, ensuring proper budgeting and documented results.
• Use social media to recognize current donors and promote donor engagement events.
• Research and utilize Network resources for donor appreciation and engagement opportunities.

Retail Pick-Up Program

• Enhance the Retail Pick-Up Program, including retail partner relationship management and troubleshooting.
• Establish and maintain relationships with retail donors, including annual recognition and facility visits.
• Secure annual Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) from Agency Enabled Retail Pickup Partner Agencies.
• Develop monitoring forms, schedule visits, and document corrective action plans as needed.
• Compile statistics for reports and review donation trends (type, amount).
• Handle retail pick-up related complaints in writing and inform pertinent staff.
• Work with the Inventory & Facility Manager to ensure donations are logged in Meal Connect and P2.

Volunteer Recruitment

• Recruit, orient, and connect volunteers to appropriate activities and opportunities.
• Handle generalized volunteer communications (closures, policy changes).
• Play an active role in tours and presentations to capture volunteer recruitment opportunities.

Volunteer Development Needs

• Develop and utilize a skill and interest survey to match volunteers with organizational needs.
• Implement a standard volunteer orientation covering BVFB overview, paperwork, and Volgistics procedures.
• Create and execute a volunteer recruitment plan, including materials like videos, presentations, and flyers.
• Analyze current volunteer demographics and develop plans to recruit underrepresented groups (e.g., seniors, disabled individuals, people of color).
• Identify new volunteer sources and develop group list-servs for immediate needs (e.g., disaster efforts, garden gleaning).
• Attend recruitment fairs and directly recruit volunteers through presentations, media, and community outreach.
• Collaborate with the Development Team for special event volunteer recruitment (e.g., Santa’s Wonderland, AggiesCan).
• Ensure volunteer information is added to donor mailing lists (flagged as volunteers).

Scheduling

• Respond to volunteer inquiries promptly via email or telephone.
• Direct individuals and groups to the online volunteer application through Volgistics.
• Approve applications in a timely manner and send a "Next Steps" email.

Retaining Volunteers

• Demonstrate intention in volunteer assignments, orienting and connecting volunteers to appropriate opportunities.
• Coordinate and implement appreciation and retention efforts to enhance the overall volunteer experience.
• Support deepening volunteer relationships and converting volunteers to donors (and vice versa).

Appreciation

• Develop and implement ongoing volunteer appreciation strategies, including the Volunteer Leader concept.
• Create and administer volunteer satisfaction/feedback loops and surveys (first-time, repeat, annual, and program-specific).
• Manage volunteer highlight content for display in the volunteer center.

Data Management

• Use survey data to create or alter volunteer practices.
• Ensure all volunteer hours are captured and data in Volgistics is accurate and up-to-date.
• Provide volunteer lists to BVFB staff for cross-departmental recruitment (with approval).

Community Service Workers (CSW)

• Handle inquiries from court-appointed community service workers and probation officers.
• Screen and approve CSW applications based on offense.
• Inform individuals of proper online processes for signing up for volunteer shifts.
• Complete monthly probation reports for Brazos County.

Annual Events

• Serve as the Food & Volunteer contact for KBTX-TV’s Food for Families Food Drive and Feast of Caring at The Brazos Center.
• Recruit and oversee volunteers, schedule participation, and provide training on specific duties.
• Photograph volunteer activities during events and reconcile food donations before, during, and after.
• Send thank-you emails and create social media content for events.
• Coordinate seasonal food drives to deliver collections to annual events and solicit retail donors for contributions.

Additional Duties

• Complete a monthly Board Report for volunteer and food sourcing areas.
• Attend one-on-one meetings with supervisor, quarterly All Staff meetings, and inter-departmental meetings.
• Complete updates and goals in Lattice as directed by the Operations Director.
• Serve as the point of contact for all internship requests.
• Discuss program ideas and changes with the Operations Director before implementation.
• Obtain approval for any unbudgeted financial expenditures.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• 2-3 years of relevant experience in a nonprofit setting preferred, or 2-3 years in customer service and/or sales.
• Past experience as a volunteer and preferably as a donor.
• Experience recruiting and managing volunteers is preferred.
• Strong communication skills, including public speaking.
• People skills with the ability to manage difficult situations ethically and confidentially (donors, volunteers, clients, and the public).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, graphics software, internet research, social media, survey software, and databases.
• Ability to extract and analyze data, create charts, and make recommendations.
• Superior organizational, analytical, and project management skills.
• Highly motivated with the ability to take initiative and work independently or collaboratively at all levels.
• Ability to manage multiple responsibilities, meet deadlines, and respond quickly to immediate needs in a fast-paced environment.

Pay

$42,000–$47,000 annually.

Schedule

Full-time (40 hours per week), 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday–Friday, with some evenings and weekends.