Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is a 501(c)(3) food bank serving Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, distributing 93 million-plus meals annually to roughly 500,000 people per month via 900+ partner agencies, with adjacent CalFresh enrollment, summer meals, nutrition education, and a multilingual Food Connection hotline.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1970
- HeadquartersSan Jose, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Second Harvest of Silicon Valley does
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit food bank founded in the 1970s and headquartered in San Jose, California. It operates as the leading food rescue and redistribution organization in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, distributing enough food for 93 million-plus meals annually and serving approximately 500,000 people per month — roughly one in six residents of its service area. Core operations are built around a network of 900+ partner agency distribution sites (pantries, shelters, schools, community centers, and affordable housing complexes), direct walk-up distributions, a multilingual Food Connection hotline (1-800-984-3663, staffed in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Tagalog), CalFresh/SNAP application assistance, a summer/SUN Bucks meals program for children at 70+ sites, and a Nutrition Center providing education and recipes.
The underlying technology is a conventional food rescue and distribution logistics system that connects surplus food from grocers, manufacturers, and farms (via channels including the California Association of Food Banks Farm to Family program and the Starbucks/Feeding America Foodshare program) to downstream partner agencies and end clients; there are no AI/ML systems described in the available data. Three physical facilities (Curtner Center and Cypress Center in San Jose, Bing Center in San Carlos) support operations, volunteer mobilization, and donation processing, with a new San Jose facility breaking ground in September 2025 to accommodate record demand.
Revenue flows from three streams: financial donations from individuals and corporations (the 2023 holiday campaign alone targeted $30 million), in-kind food donations from retailers and farms, and government grants/contracts tied to federal nutrition programs such as SNAP/CalFresh. The organization operates free of charge to clients, is governed by an independent Board of Directors (Board Chair Maria Poveromo, formerly SVP and CCO at Cisco), is led by CEO Leslie Bacho, and is a member of the Feeding America network and the Bay Area Food Banks coalition. It pursues strategic partnerships with healthcare systems (notably a Stanford Medicine collaboration under a $1.1 billion community health investment) and educational institutions (SJSU Spartan Pantry, ServiceNow student hunger initiative) to embed food security within broader social-determinants-of-health and student-support ecosystems.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
- Legal name
- Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
- Website
- https://shfb.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1970
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is a 501(c)(3) food bank serving Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, distributing 93 million-plus meals annually to roughly 500,000 people per month via 900+ partner agencies, with adjacent CalFresh enrollment, summer meals, nutrition education, and a multilingual Food Connection hotline.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Food Bank and Hunger Relief Services
- NAICS
- Community Food Services (62421), Community Food Services (624210)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Food Assistance & Food Banks (BPAGAEAA)
Keywords
Where Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Jose
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Financial Donations: Individual and corporate donations from donors who contribute funds to support food acquisition and distribution operations.
- Food Donations: Rescued surplus food from grocers, manufacturers, and farms that is redistributed to those in need.
- Government Programs: CalFresh enrollment assistance and participation in federal nutrition programs like SNAP.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley rescues surplus food from grocers, manufacturers, and farms and redistributes it free of charge to individuals and families facing food insecurity across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. It also provides CalFresh/SNAP application assistance, summer meals for children (including the SUN Bucks program), nutrition education, and operates a multilingual Food Connection hotline that connects callers to local food resources.
Product overview
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley operates as a food bank providing a unified set of food assistance programs rather than a technology platform. The core offering consists of food distribution through a network of 900+ partner sites, CalFresh application assistance, meals for children (including the SUN Bucks summer program), and a multilingual Food Connection Hotline. Supporting these services are a Nutrition Center offering education and recipes, and virtual food drive tools for fundraising. The organization serves Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in California.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Food Distribution Program Free groceries and prepared meals distributed through more than 900 partner agency sites across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties for families, seniors, students, and other individuals experiencing food insecurity.
- CalFresh Application Assistance Helps low-income individuals and families apply for CalFresh (SNAP/EBT) benefits, providing expert guidance through the application process and helping submit documents to county offices.
- Meals for Kids / SUN Bucks Free summer meal program providing nutritious meals to children 18 and younger at sites throughout Santa Clara and San Mateo counties; SUN Bucks provides funds to purchase food during summer months.
- Nutrition Center Provides nutrition education resources, recipes, cooking tips, and workshops to help clients prepare nourishing meals and develop healthy eating habits.
- Food Connection Hotline Phone hotline (1-800-984-3663) staffed by multilingual staff who connect callers to nearby free food sources and assist with CalFresh applications. Staff speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Tagalog.
- Virtual Food Drive Online fundraising tool allowing supporters to create and share virtual food drives with friends and family to collect donations for the food bank.
- Partner Agency Network Network of more than 900 partner agencies, including pantries, shelters, schools, and community organizations, that distribute food to individuals and families in need.
Quantifiable outcome
- Serves 500,000 people monthly with millions of pounds of food distributed
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and notable.
- Stanford MedicinecoreStanford Health Care, Stanford Medicine Children's Health, and Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley invested a combined $1.1 billion in community health programs during fiscal year ending August 2024. The investments supported nonprofit partners including Second Harvest, which provided food to approximately 139,000 individuals. This partnership addresses social determinants of health including food security in the Bay Area.
- LifeSTEPS and CityTeammajorSecond Harvest partnered with LifeSTEPS and CityTeam to launch free food distributions at affordable housing complexes in San Jose, bringing food resources directly to housing communities.
- ServiceNowmajorServiceNow partnered with Second Harvest to address student hunger at colleges in Santa Clara County, supporting food insecurity initiatives for college students.
- StarbucksmajorSecond Harvest partnered with Starbucks and Feeding America to launch the Foodshare program, which helps rescue and redistribute surplus food from Starbucks locations.
- Samaritan HousenotableSamaritan House and Second Harvest opened the first known Food Pharmacy in California, providing a unique model for addressing food insecurity through healthcare partnerships.
- Feeding AmericacoreSecond Harvest is a member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 member food banks. This affiliation provides access to resources, best practices, and collaborative programs across the food bank network.
- Bay Area Food BankscoreSecond Harvest is part of Bay Area Food Banks, a network of 10 San Francisco Bay Area food banks working together to address hunger in the region.
- California Association of Food Banks - Farm to Family ProgramcoreSecond Harvest receives food from the Farm to Family program, operated by the California Association of Food Banks, which helps provide food and fight climate change by connecting surplus produce from farms to food banks.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- San Francisco-Marin Food Banks: Direct peer food bank serving adjacent Bay Area counties (San Francisco and Marin) through a comparable partner-agency distribution and CalFresh enrollment model. Highly comparable because it shares the same Bay Area Food Bank network and faces identical cost-of-living dynamics driving client demand.
- Alameda County Community Food Bank: Direct peer food bank serving Alameda County within the same Bay Area Food Bank network. Comparable because it operates a partner-agency distribution model at similar scale, targets low-income households in a high-cost Bay Area region, and participates in shared Feeding America procurement pipelines.
Peers
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley social profiles
Digital presenceSecond Harvest of Silicon Valley financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles24 records
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
What does Second Harvest of Silicon Valley do?
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley rescues surplus food from grocers, manufacturers, and farms and redistributes it free of charge to individuals and families facing food insecurity across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. It also provides CalFresh/SNAP application assistance, summer meals for children (including the SUN Bucks program), nutrition education, and operates a multilingual Food Connection hotline that connects callers to local food resources.
Is Second Harvest of Silicon Valley a public or private company?
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Second Harvest of Silicon Valley founded?
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley was founded in 1970. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Second Harvest of Silicon Valley based?
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is headquartered in San Jose, United States, in the North America region.
How does Second Harvest of Silicon Valley make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Financial Donations are the primary driver. The others are food Donations and government Programs.
Who are Second Harvest of Silicon Valley's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are San Francisco-Marin Food Banks and Alameda County Community Food Bank. Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano is listed as a peer.
Does Second Harvest of Silicon Valley have an API?
No public API is recorded for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley.
What industry is Second Harvest of Silicon Valley in?
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley's product category is Food Bank and Hunger Relief Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAEAA, Food Assistance & Food Banks. Its NAICS code is 62421.