The Trade Desk Founder Jeff Green donates $8.5M to FoodShare
Hoping to make a dent in Ventura County’s chronic hunger woes, The Trade Desk Founder Jeff Green’s family foundation has made an $8.5 million gift to FoodShare, putting that nonprofit’s $50 million campaign for a new facility on firm footing.
Oxnard-based FoodShare is the biggest food bank in the county. It announced the expansion after turning away eight million pounds of donated food last year due to a lack of storage; Green donated through his foundation’s DataPhilanthropy initiative, headed by former CSU Channel Islands President Richard Yao.
Green is the founder and CEO of The Trade Desk, the leading independent demand-side ad-tech platform, headquartered in Ventura, and one of the region’s largest public companies. Previous DataPhilanthropy grants have supported CSU Channel Islands, Mount Sinai, buildOn, and The Ruth Cheatham Foundation.
Food Share serves more than 250,000 people annually, or roughly one in four Ventura County residents. The new facility, announced in the Business Times earlier this year, will significantly expand its capacity.
“This gift is transformational,” Monica White, President & CEO of Food Share, said in a statement. “With $4.5 million left to raise, the finish line is within reach, making it possible to serve our neighbors today and for generations to come.”
“In Ventura County, many families are facing impossible tradeoffs between food, housing, health care, and other basic needs,” said Yao in the statement. “DataPhilanthropy is proud to support more reliable and sufficient hunger relief.”
The announcement coincides with The Trade Desk’s HEART Giving Day on July 23, which included around 100 employees at The Trade Desk volunteering at Food Share’s headquarters.
