Giving
What does $10 actually buy?
Forty hot school meals. The food on one plate — maize or rice with beans and greens, plus a protein three days a week — costs about 25 cents across our five countries.
What about $25, $50 and $100?
$25 is 100 meals, which is a classroom of twenty children fed for a week. $50 is 200 meals, roughly one child fed every school day for a full 190-day year. $100 is 400 meals, or two children for a year. These are averages; the real spread by district is in the financials.
Is 25 cents really the whole cost?
For the meal itself, yes — that figure already includes cooks' wages, fuel and kitchen upkeep, not just the ingredients. If you divide our entire budget by meals served you get 38 cents, because the budget also funds take-home rations, malnutrition treatment, school gardens and the audit. We publish both, because quoting only the flattering one is how this gets dishonest.
Does my employer match donations?
Thousands of companies do, and a great deal of that money goes unclaimed every year because nobody files the form. Search your intranet for 'matching gifts' or ask HR, then name Amara Feeds on the claim. We'll supply whatever registration details their platform asks for. Some employers match at two or three times the gift.
Do I get a record of what I gave?
Yes — a receipt for every gift, and a single summary each January listing everything you gave the year before in one place.
Can I give a different amount?
Yes. The donate page takes any amount from $1 up. Every dollar is four meals.
Can I choose which program my gift funds?
Yes, on the donate page. But unrestricted gifts are more useful — they're what let us cover a maize price spike without shutting a kitchen, which is exactly what happened in Malawi this year.
Monthly giving
How do I cancel?
There's a link in every email we send, and it takes effect immediately. You can also reply to any message from us. No retention script and no phone call.
Can I change the amount?
Yes, up or down, from the same link. Plenty of people adjust theirs and that's fine.
Which date am I charged?
The same date each month as your first gift. Where that date doesn't exist in a given month, we take it on the last day instead.
Why does monthly matter more?
Grain costs roughly 19% less right after harvest than four months later. A kitchen that knows what's coming buys in bulk at the bottom of the curve and stores it. Predictable money buys more food.
Where the money goes
How much reaches programs?
91 cents in the dollar. The rest covers the audit, wire fees, safeguarding and donor care. We use standard functional expense categories — program, fundraising, management — so you can compare us like for like against any other nonprofit.
Who actually buys the food?
Eleven partner organizations, all registered in the country they work in and run by people from that region. We make grants; we don't run kitchens or send staff abroad.
How do you know it was spent properly?
Kitchen logs, grain receipts and headcounts reviewed every quarter by our country leads, and an independent audit every year. When it's gone wrong we've published that too — we overpaid a grain supplier by $11,200 this year and ended a partnership after logs didn't reconcile.
Why not just ship American grain?
It costs more and it undercuts the farmers next to the school. Buying in-district is cheaper per calorie once you count freight, and it keeps the money in the economy the children live in. 76% of what we serve is bought within the district it's eaten in.
Do you take government money?
No. About 24% of revenue comes from foundations and community funds, and the rest from individuals and companies. We've chosen not to take government grants so far.
Children and safeguarding
Do children consent to appearing on this site?
Yes, and so does a guardian, and consent can be withdrawn at any time without a reason. We publish first names only, never a school or home that could be identified, and never an image of a visibly malnourished child.
Can I sponsor a specific child?
No. One-to-one sponsorship singles children out within a school, builds a relationship with an adult stranger, and collapses if the donor stops. We feed whole schools.
Can I visit or volunteer overseas?
No. A visiting volunteer costs partners more in hosting and supervision than the work is worth, and short-term adult contact with children carries risk we won't take on. A round-trip flight is 5,600 meals. There's plenty we do need, mostly remote — see the volunteer page.
Practical
Can I give from another country?
Yes. Amounts are converted at the day's rate at checkout, and your receipt shows both figures.
I didn't get a receipt.
Check spam first, then email hello@amarafeeds.org with the approximate date and amount and we'll resend it.
How do I get my details removed?
Email hello@amarafeeds.org and we'll delete them within thirty days, keeping only what the law requires us to hold. Details are on the privacy page.