Campus Food Pantries: Insights from a National Survey (2018)

• This is the first-ever national survey of campus food pantries, with 262 participating institutions, 217 of which currently operate pantries. • Most campus pantries have a designated space on campus, serve exclusively the on-campus community, and are run by staff, students, and faculty. • Very few campus pantries have sizable budgets, but most employ some paid staff, often undergraduate or graduate students, and volunteers provide additional support. • Awareness of campus pantries may be limited because common outreach strategies are informal, but barriers to support are low—just 5% of campus pantries require proof of financial need. • The most common challenges faced by camp