Share Our Strength
Share Our Strength is a U.S. nonprofit organization focused on ending childhood hunger and reducing poverty through fundraising, culinary engagement, partnerships, and direct support for long-term anti-hunger programs.
Last updated August 24, 2026
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Overview
Share Our Strength is a national U.S. nonprofit organization whose central mission is to end childhood hunger and address the conditions that contribute to poverty. Founded in 1984 by siblings Billy Shore and Debbie Shore, the organization began in the basement of a Capitol Hill row house and initially operated primarily as a fundraising and grant-making organization. Its early model was to raise money and distribute it to other nonprofit groups working on hunger and poverty, while seeking approaches that could produce durable improvements rather than only temporary relief. Over time, Share Our Strength expanded from a grant-making role into a more direct and programmatic organization. Its work has included culinary fundraising events, individual donations, corporate sponsorships, public-awareness efforts, social-media fundraising, technical assistance, and partnerships with government and community organizations. Corporate sponsorships have been an important part of its model because they allow donations and event proceeds to support larger-scale initiatives and amplify the reach of the organization’s programs. The organization’s best-known public-facing campaign is No Kid Hungry, launched in 2010. The campaign works to connect children with meals and strengthen systems intended to prevent childhood hunger. Rather than treating hunger solely as an emergency food problem, Share Our Strength has used the campaign to support longer-term solutions, including work with programs and partners operating in local communities. No Kid Hungry also functions as a major fundraising and public-engagement platform, giving the organization a recognizable national identity beyond its original grant-making activities. Share Our Strength has also developed programs that connect food, health, and economic well-being. Operation Frontline, launched in 1993 and later known as Cooking Matters, represented an early move toward direct programming. The initiative focused on practical food and nutrition education and reflected the organization’s broader interest in helping families and communities build sustainable capabilities. Other initiatives have used restaurants, chefs, bakers, consumers, companies, and public agencies as participants in anti-hunger efforts. Its signature culinary fundraising platform, Taste of the Nation, began in 1988 and raised almost $250,000 at its first event. The Great American Bake Sale followed in 2003, encouraging people across the country to raise money through baked goods. In 2008, Share Our Strength introduced a refreshed brand identity and held the first Dine Out for No Kid Hungry, further integrating the restaurant and hospitality sectors into its fundraising strategy. The organization’s mission also evolved institutionally. In 2004, its twentieth anniversary, Share Our Strength shifted its stated focus more directly toward ending child hunger. It began state-level partnership work with the District of Columbia in 2006 and collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007 on issues connecting childhood hunger and obesity. In 1997, it created Community Wealth Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary intended to develop earned-income and social-enterprise approaches related to its mission. Share Our Strength remains an active U.S.-focused nonprofit brand. Its identity combines anti-hunger advocacy, culinary culture, philanthropy, corporate participation, and community-based implementation. The organization is particularly associated with No Kid Hungry, but its history also includes a broader portfolio of fundraising mechanisms, educational programs, partnerships, and institutional experiments aimed at producing lasting reductions in childhood hunger.
History
Share Our Strength was created in 1984 by siblings Billy Shore and Debbie Shore. The organization traces its beginnings to a basement in a Capitol Hill row house, where it developed an approach centered on finding durable responses to hunger and poverty. During its first phase, the nonprofit focused almost entirely on raising money and awarding grants to other organizations. This model allowed Share Our Strength to support a range of groups while concentrating on fundraising, convening, and the search for promising long-term solutions. A major expansion of its public identity came through culinary fundraising. In 1988, Share Our Strength launched Taste of the Nation. The first event raised nearly $250,000, establishing a recurring connection between restaurants, chefs, food professionals, and anti-hunger philanthropy. The event model helped transform dining and culinary participation into fundraising assets and became one of the organization’s most recognizable traditions. In 1993, Share Our Strength began Operation Frontline, later called Cooking Matters. This initiative reflected an important strategic shift: the organization was no longer relying exclusively on grants to outside nonprofits, but was also developing and supporting direct programs. Food skills, nutrition education, and practical household support became part of its broader response to hunger. The organization continued to experiment with structures that linked charitable activity and social enterprise. In 1997, it opened Community Wealth Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary. The subsidiary represented an effort to explore earned-income and business-based tools in support of social objectives, complementing the nonprofit’s fundraising and grant-making activities. Share Our Strength broadened its mass-participation fundraising in 2003 with the launch of The Great American Bake Sale. The initiative encouraged people throughout the United States to sell baked goods and contribute the proceeds to hunger-related work. In 2004, marking its twentieth anniversary, the organization revised its mission to focus more directly on ending child hunger. This sharpened emphasis helped organize its later program and campaign work around children’s access to food. Partnership-based work expanded in the middle of the decade. In 2006, Share Our Strength began its first state partnership pilot with the District of Columbia. In 2007, it partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address the relationship between childhood hunger and obesity. These efforts illustrated the organization’s interest in connecting food access with health, public systems, and local implementation rather than treating hunger as an isolated charitable issue. In 2008, Share Our Strength introduced a new brand identity and held the first Dine Out for No Kid Hungry event. The initiative strengthened its ties to restaurants and made dining-based participation part of the organization’s national communications and fundraising approach. Two years later, in 2010, Share Our Strength launched the No Kid Hungry campaign. No Kid Hungry became the organization’s principal national campaign and a powerful platform for fundraising, awareness-building, and work with local programs. Through this evolution, Share Our Strength moved from a primarily grant-making organization toward a hybrid nonprofit model combining fundraising, advocacy, corporate sponsorship, culinary events, education, social media, and direct partnerships. Its contemporary identity is strongly associated with No Kid Hungry, while Taste of the Nation, Cooking Matters, The Great American Bake Sale, and Dine Out for No Kid Hungry represent important stages in the development of its program and brand architecture.
- 2011
Bill Shore receives a Jefferson Awards honor
[1]Bill Shore receives the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen.
- 2010
No Kid Hungry launches
[1]Share Our Strength launches its national No Kid Hungry campaign.
- 2008
Brand identity is refreshed and Dine Out begins
[1]Share Our Strength unveils a new brand identity and hosts the first Dine Out for No Kid Hungry event.
- 2007
CDC partnership addresses hunger and obesity
[1]The organization partners with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on childhood hunger and obesity.
- 2006
District of Columbia partnership pilot begins
[1]Share Our Strength starts its first state-level partnership pilot in the District of Columbia.
- 2004
Mission shifts toward ending child hunger
[1]On its twentieth anniversary, Share Our Strength changes its mission to focus directly on ending child hunger.
- 2003
The Great American Bake Sale launches
[1]A nationwide bake-sale fundraising initiative begins.
- 1997
Community Wealth Ventures is established
[1]The organization opens a for-profit subsidiary connected to social-enterprise and mission-support activities.
- 1993
Operation Frontline starts
[1]Share Our Strength begins Operation Frontline, later known as Cooking Matters, expanding into direct food and nutrition programming.
- 1988
Taste of the Nation begins
[1]The organization launches its culinary fundraising event series; the first event raises nearly $250,000.
Products and positioning
A national anti-hunger nonprofit that combines culinary fundraising, public engagement, corporate partnerships, and community-level programs to pursue long-term solutions to childhood hunger in the United States.
National childhood hunger campaign · 2010
No Kid Hungry
No Kid Hungry is Share Our Strength’s national campaign and most prominent public-facing initiative. Launched in 2010, it combines fundraising, public awareness, corporate sponsorship, social-media engagement, and partnerships with local programs to address childhood hunger. The campaign is positioned around longer-term solutions and improved connections between children and available food resources rather than only emergency assistance.
Culinary fundraising event series · 1988
Taste of the Nation
Taste of the Nation is a culinary fundraising platform launched by Share Our Strength in 1988. It brings together restaurants, chefs, food professionals, and diners to raise money for hunger-related work. The first event generated nearly $250,000, establishing the event as an important part of the organization’s strategy for converting culinary participation and hospitality culture into charitable support.
Food and nutrition education program · 1993
Cooking Matters
Cooking Matters is the later name for Operation Frontline, a program that began in 1993. It represents Share Our Strength’s move into direct programming by emphasizing practical cooking, food skills, nutrition knowledge, and household-oriented support. The program reflects the organization’s interest in building capabilities that can help families make effective use of limited food resources.
Community fundraising initiative · 2003
The Great American Bake Sale
The Great American Bake Sale began in 2003 as a nationwide fundraising initiative. It encouraged individuals and communities to sell baked goods and donate the proceeds to support Share Our Strength’s anti-hunger work. The format broadened participation beyond major culinary events and gave households, schools, community groups, and local organizers a simple way to engage with the organization.
Restaurant fundraising campaign · 2008
Dine Out for No Kid Hungry
Dine Out for No Kid Hungry is a restaurant-centered fundraising initiative first held in 2008. It extends Share Our Strength’s culinary strategy into participating restaurants and dining occasions, allowing the hospitality sector and consumers to support the No Kid Hungry mission through organized dining-based fundraising.
Marketing campaigns
- 2010No Kid Hungry
United States
A national campaign focused on ending childhood hunger through fundraising, awareness, partnerships, and support for long-term solutions.
Outcome. No Kid Hungry became Share Our Strength’s principal national campaign and a major engine for fundraising and public engagement.
- 2008Dine Out for No Kid Hungry
United States
A restaurant and dining campaign created to connect consumers and the hospitality industry with Share Our Strength’s child-hunger mission.
Outcome. The initiative reinforced the organization’s restaurant-sector fundraising model and supported the later national No Kid Hungry platform.
- 2003The Great American Bake Sale
United States
A nationwide community fundraising campaign based on selling baked goods for charitable purposes.
Outcome. It expanded participation in Share Our Strength fundraising beyond formal culinary events.
- 1988Taste of the Nation
United States
A national culinary event platform that raises money through restaurants, chefs, and food-centered experiences.
Outcome. The first event raised nearly $250,000 and established culinary fundraising as a core part of Share Our Strength’s identity.
Brand decisions
2010
Launch No Kid HungryStrategyBackground
Share Our Strength had developed culinary fundraising, direct programming, and partnership experience but sought a broader national platform centered on childhood hunger.
Action taken
The organization launched No Kid Hungry as a national campaign combining fundraising, awareness, and work with programs on the ground.
Aftermath
No Kid Hungry became the organization’s most recognizable campaign and a central part of its public identity.
2004
Refocus the mission on ending child hungerStrategyBackground
After two decades of broader hunger and poverty work, Share Our Strength reassessed its mission as part of its twentieth-anniversary period.
Action taken
The organization changed its mission to focus directly on ending child hunger.
Aftermath
The sharper focus prepared the organization for later state partnerships, child-hunger programming, and the No Kid Hungry campaign.
Recent events
- 2010
No Kid Hungry campaign launches[1]
Campaign · Product launch
Share Our Strength introduces No Kid Hungry, a national campaign intended to raise funds, awareness, and support for long-term solutions to childhood hunger.
- 1997
Community Wealth Ventures opens[1]
M&A
Share Our Strength establishes Community Wealth Ventures as a for-profit subsidiary connected to its social-mission work.
- 1993
Operation Frontline begins[1]
Product launch
The organization starts Operation Frontline, later known as Cooking Matters, marking a move toward direct food and nutrition programming.
- 1988
Taste of the Nation launches[1]
Campaign
Share Our Strength begins its culinary fundraising event series, with the first event raising nearly $250,000.
- 1984
Share Our Strength is founded[1]
Other
Billy Shore and Debbie Shore establish Share Our Strength as an organization focused on long-term responses to hunger and poverty.
Sources1 sources
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