What Open Hand does

Open Hand Atlanta, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1988 and headquartered at 1380 West Marietta St NW, Atlanta, Georgia. It delivers medically tailored, made-from-scratch meals approved by a registered dietitian nutritionist to home-bound and chronically ill individuals across Georgia, framed within the national Food Is Medicine movement. The organization's core product is a Meal Delivery Program that addresses specific health conditions such as heart disease, post-surgical recovery, and stroke, supplemented by Nutrition Education, the Stephen Woods Workforce Development Program, Nutrition Resources, and a Research & Impact function. It also operates Good Measure Meals as a sub-brand offering meal services.

The business model is donation-driven: as a 501(c)(3), Open Hand derives primary funding from charitable contributions by individuals, corporations, and community groups, with meals provided at no cost to eligible clients. It has no disclosed pricing model, no paid customer contract structure, and no proprietary technology platform — its core capability is kitchen-based meal preparation combined with volunteer-operated door-to-door delivery across Georgia. The organization maintains partnerships with health systems (for patient referrals), corporate partners (for funding and volunteer support), and community groups (for distribution reach), and is accredited by the Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) and top-rated by both Candid and Charity Navigator.

Open Hand's GTM motion is community-led: clients are identified through health system referrals and self-service applications via the 'Get Meals' page, while the donor and volunteer pipeline is cultivated through the website, news/blog content, earned media coverage (including ABC World News Tonight), and participation in industry events such as FIMCON. The organization has 51-100 employees and operates as an independent nonprofit with no parent company, private equity backing, or institutional investor ownership identified in available data. CEO Matthew Pieper leads the organization and is the public voice for its Food Is Medicine positioning.

Name

Open Hand

Legal name

Open Hand Atlanta

Website

https://projectopenhand.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Open Hand Atlanta is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1988 that delivers dietitian-approved, medically tailored meals to home-bound and chronically ill individuals across Georgia, funded by donations and operated with volunteer labor and health system referral partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medically Tailored Meal Services

NAICS

Community Food Services (62421), Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (624120)

SIC

Services-Home Health Care Services (8082)

akta.pro primary industry

Medical Nutrition Therapy (Registered Dietitian) (HSADAFAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Meal Preparation & Nutrition Support (Non-Medical) (HSABAAAC), Meal Preparation, Nutrition Support & Feeding Assistance (HLADAGAD)

Keywords

• Medically tailored meals
• Home-delivered meals
• Chronic disease nutrition
• Food as medicine
• Nutrition care services

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Open Hand derives its primary funding from charitable donations from individuals, corporations, and community groups. The organization relies on donor generosity to provide meals to home-bound and ill individuals.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Open Hand Atlanta provides Comprehensive Nutrition Care for people preventing or better managing chronic disease, centered on a Meal Delivery Program of made-from-scratch, registered-dietitian-approved, medically tailored meals delivered directly to clients' homes. Complementary offerings include Nutrition Education, Nutrition Resources, the Stephen Woods Workforce Development Program, and Research & Impact initiatives, with Good Measure Meals operating as a related sub-brand.

Product overview

Open Hand is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, providing a comprehensive suite of nutrition-related services. The core offering is the Meal Delivery Program, which delivers medically tailored meals approved by a registered dietitian nutritionist to address specific health conditions. This is complemented by Nutrition Education programs, the Stephen Woods Workforce Development Program, Nutrition Resources, and Research & Impact initiatives. The organization also operates Good Measure Meals as a sub-brand. Collectively, these programs support the 'Food Is Medicine' movement, with Open Hand serving as Georgia's preferred medically tailored meal provider, helping clients avoid hospitalizations through proper nutrition.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Good Measure: A program/brand under Open Hand Atlanta offering meals, referenced at https://www.goodmeasuremeals.com/

Products and services

• Meal Delivery Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,594,000 hospitalizations could be avoided in the first year if all people with at least 1 diet-sensitive condition received access to medically tailored meals

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Health Systems PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpen Hand partners with health systems across Georgia to deliver medically tailored meals to patients and community members in need. These partnerships help identify individuals who would benefit from nutrition intervention as part of their healthcare treatment.
• Corporate PartnerscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerOpen Hand works with corporations across Georgia who support meal programs for Georgians in need. Corporate partners provide funding, volunteer support, and resources to help expand the organization's reach and impact.
• Community PartnerscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerOpen Hand partners with community groups throughout Georgia to support food distribution and nutrition programs. These partnerships help extend the organization's reach into local communities.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• God's Love We Deliver: NYC-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing home-delivered medically tailored meals to people living with serious illness. Directly comparable to Open Hand in mission, model, and FIMC membership; serves as a benchmark for nonprofit MTM operations at scale.
• MANNA: Philadelphia-based nonprofit providing home-delivered medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling to individuals battling life-threatening illnesses. Direct peer in FIMC, mission, and RDN-staffed model.
• Food & Friends: Washington D.C.-area nonprofit providing home-delivered medically tailored meals and groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses. Highly aligned nonprofit MTM model with FIMC membership.
• Community Servings: Boston-area nonprofit preparing and home-delivering medically tailored meals to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses. Closely aligned in service design, RDN involvement, and FIMC participation.
• LiftStream / Feed More: Richmond, Virginia-based regional hunger-relief organization that includes a Community Kitchen and Meals on Wheels program providing home-delivered meals to homebound clients. Comparable regional nonprofit model combining prepared meals and home delivery.
• Project Angel Food: Los Angeles-based nonprofit delivering medically tailored meals to critically ill clients across LA County. Highly comparable nonprofit MTM model with home-delivered, condition-specific nutrition, and similar volunteer-driven distribution.

Broad incumbents

• Meals on Wheels America: National umbrella organization supporting a network of local programs delivering meals primarily to seniors. Overlapping home-delivered meal mission and nonprofit donor model, though Meals on Wheels focuses on seniors broadly rather than medically tailored nutrition.
• Mom's Meals: Large-scale for-profit provider of home-delivered medically tailored meals serving Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and dual-eligible populations nationwide. Comparable in offering but operates as a commercial incumbent with payer contracts rather than a nonprofit donor model.
• Modify Health: For-profit medically tailored meal provider with telehealth dietitian support, serving health plans, providers, and patients with chronic conditions. Comparable medically tailored offering but commercially scaled and tech-enabled versus Open Hand's nonprofit volunteer model.

Emerging players

• Epicured: Commercial medically tailored meal provider focused on chronic conditions (GI, diabetes, oncology) with a technology-forward ordering and delivery platform. Comparable in clinical nutrition positioning but for-profit with a more limited regional footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/OpenHandAtlanta

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Open Hand