Denver Food Rescue
Denver Food Rescue (DFR) produces health equity in Denver neighborhoods by recovering surplus fresh food and delivering it directly to community-led No Cost Grocery Programs. DFR is a registered 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 46-2096160) focused on food security, climate action, and social justice.
About Denver Food Rescue
Denver Food Rescue operates a direct-distribution model that recovers surplus fresh food from grocery stores, wholesalers, and farmers markets and delivers it—often by e-cargo bike—within hours to neighborhood No Cost Grocery Programs (NCGPs).
Founded as a grassroots effort and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2014, the organization partners with community hosts and volunteers to provide dignified, barrier-free access to nutritious, culturally relevant foods across Denver.
In recent years DFR has scaled its work through partner NCGPs, mobile delivery to homebound neighbors, and targeted youth and school nutrition initiatives while tracking environmental impact from diverted food waste.
Notable achievements
Cumulative food rescued
DFR has recovered multiple millions of pounds of fresh food since launch (organization-reported cumulative recovery in the multi-million-pound range), diverting substantial food from landfills and supplying neighborhood programs.
2023 program-scale impact
In recent filings and organizational reporting for 2023 DFR documented hundreds of thousands of pounds of rescued food (over 600,000 lbs reported by program summaries), hundreds of thousands of meals-equivalent distributed, thousands of NCGP visits, and millions of dollars in community grocery savings.
Sustainable operations milestone
DFR operates a substantial e-cargo bike fleet and volunteer delivery network that tracks thousands of sustainable miles and measurable emissions avoidance from diverted food and low-carbon deliveries.
At a glance
- Total assets
- $350K
- Annual revenue
- $3.0M
- Tax status
- 501(c)(3)Public charity
- EIN
- 46-2096160
- Location
- Denver, CO
- Website
- denverfoodrescue.org
- On Mahalo since
- May 2025
Financial figures from the IRS Business Master File, the IRS’s registry of tax-exempt organizations.
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