Village Harvest

What Village Harvest does

Village Harvest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose, California, that coordinates volunteer teams to harvest backyard and small-orchard fruit and donate it to local food assistance organizations across four Bay Area counties (Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and San Benito). The organization serves three constituencies: tree owners who cannot harvest their own fruit (with priority given to seniors 70+ and physically unable households), volunteers who donate their labor, and food banks and food pantries that receive the donated produce. Since founding, volunteers have picked and donated over 4.1 million pounds of fruit; in 2022 alone, the organization delivered 255,000+ pounds of fruit (680,000 servings) across 123 harvests at 240 homes and orchards.

The core service is supported by a custom-built virtual organization management platform that coordinates 9,300 registered volunteers, 4,300 tree owners, and 35 volunteer leader-organizers across multiple counties. Village Harvest has also developed and published proprietary harvesting know-how, including a "Shake and Catch" ladder-less technique for trees up to 20 feet and DIY tree shaker instructions mimicking commercial mechanical shakers. Supporting products include homeowner education resources, food preservation guides, a community food drop-off directory covering 30+ agencies, and a multi-state gleaning organization directory covering California, Oregon, Washington, and other states.

The organization operates as a free community service with no fees charged to tree owners, volunteers, or food agencies. Funding comes entirely from private donations (via PayPal, employer matching, donor-advised funds including Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and stock gifts), individual grants, and foundation grants from current supporters including Farrington Historical Foundation, Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation, and California Water Service, alongside past support from Adobe Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Silicon Valley Bank Foundation. Go-to-market is community-led: a volunteer newsletter (one to two issues per month), Facebook/Instagram organic social, an events calendar, and earned media coverage in outlets including CBS KPIX, New York Times, Washington Post, and San Jose Mercury News. The organization is staffed by 4 part-time employees and governed by a board of directors.

Name

Village Harvest

Legal name

Village Harvest

Website

https://villageharvest.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Village Harvest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2001 in San Jose, California, that coordinates volunteer-powered fruit harvesting from residential properties and small orchards across four Bay Area counties, donating over 4.1 million pounds of produce to local food assistance organizations since inception.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Recovery Services

NAICS

Crop Harvesting, Primarily by Machine (115113)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Harvest Crew & Picking Services (Hand Harvest) (AFACAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Orchard Management & Field Operations (Pruning/Training, Thinning, Irrigation/Fertigation) (AFAGACAL)

Keywords

• Fruit gleaning services
• Volunteer coordination
• Food donation programs
• Community food assistance
• Harvest coordination

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: Village Harvest is funded through private donations and grants from tree owners, volunteers, companies they work for, and grant-making foundations. As an IRS 501(c)(3) charitable organization, contributions are tax-deductible. Community funding pays for part-time organizing staff, transportation, equipment, supplies, and insurance.
2. Individual Donations: Individual community members make monetary donations via the website using PayPal, by mail, through employer matching programs, donor advised funds (Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, Silicon Valley Community Foundation), and stock donations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Village Harvest coordinates volunteers to harvest surplus fruit from residential backyards and small orchards in the San Jose, California area and donates the produce to local food assistance organizations. Founded in 2001, the organization also educates homeowners in ladder-less harvesting techniques, runs drop-off locations for DIY fruit sharing, and maintains a directory of regional gleaning organizations.

Product overview

Village Harvest is a nonprofit volunteer organization offering community fruit harvesting services. The organization operates as a unified service model with multiple interconnected offerings: Community Fruit Harvesting Program (core service coordinating volunteer teams to pick fruit from homes and orchards), Homeowner Education (fruit tree care and harvesting instruction), Food Preservation Education (training on jams and preserved foods), Harvesting Assistance for Seniors and Disabled, and educational resources including Ladder-less Fruit Harvesting Techniques and Fruit Sharing DIY. Supporting services include a Volunteer Newsletter, Community Food Drop Off Locations directory, and Harvesting/Gleaning Organization Directory. Together these services enable tree owners to share fruit abundance with food banks and communities in need.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Fruit Harvesting Program Core volunteer-led service that mobilizes community volunteers to pick fruit from residential backyards and small orchards in the San Jose / Bay Area, then donates the harvest to local food assistance organizations. Intended for homeowners with surplus fruit and food-insecure communities served by partner food banks.
• Harvesting Assistance for Seniors and Disabled Targeted fruit-harvesting service for seniors and disabled homeowners who cannot safely use ladders, leveraging ladder-less techniques such as tree shakers and Shake and Catch methods. Designed to make backyard harvests accessible to mobility-limited tree owners.
• Homeowner Education Instructional program that teaches homeowners how to harvest, manage, and care for their own fruit trees, including ladder-less harvesting techniques. Targeted at residential tree owners who want to learn do-it-yourself harvesting.
• Food Preservation Education and Resources Educational offering that provides homeowners and volunteers with guidance and resources for preserving harvested fruit, such as canning, freezing, and drying. Helps extend the useful life of harvested produce beyond the harvest window.
• Fruit Sharing DIY (Community Fruit Drop-Off Locations) Self-serve fruit sharing program built around designated community drop-off locations where individuals can leave surplus backyard fruit for others to pick up. Aimed at homeowners and community members who want a DIY alternative to volunteer-led harvests.
• Harvesting/Gleaning Organization Directory Online directory listing regional harvesting and gleaning organizations so homeowners and volunteers can find additional resources beyond Village Harvest's own programs. Acts as an information hub for the broader gleaning ecosystem.
• Volunteer Newsletter Recurring newsletter that informs and mobilizes volunteers about upcoming harvest events, organizational updates, and opportunities to participate. Supports volunteer recruitment and retention.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4.1 million pounds of fruit donated since 2001
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Second Harvest of Silicon ValleycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary food bank recipient of Village Harvest fruit donations. The Giant Orange Orchard harvests alone have donated over 170,000 lbs of oranges in a single season to Second Harvest. Second Harvest is one of the largest food banks in the region, serving hundreds of thousands of food-insecure residents.
• Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los AltoscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in the Mountain View and Los Altos service area.
• Martha's KitchencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in San Jose.
• West Valley Community ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in Cupertino.
• Sunnyvale Community ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in Sunnyvale.
• St. Anthony's Padua Dining RoomcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in Menlo Park.
• Sacred Heart Community ServicecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in San Jose.
• St. Joseph's Family CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerReceives fruit donations from Village Harvest home harvests in Gilroy.
• City of SaratogacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVillage Harvest partners with the City of Saratoga to harvest the city-owned Saratoga Heritage Orchard. The City granted permission for Village Harvest volunteers to harvest apricots and prune plums from the heritage orchard, with over 3,000 lbs donated in the 2020 season alone.
• OrchardkeeperscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEcological fruit tree and orchard management organization (Matthew Sutton and staff) that maintains the Saratoga Heritage Orchard. Partners with Village Harvest for harvesting events. Specializes in fruit tree care from site preparation and planting to restoration of forgotten trees.
• Filoli Historic EstateminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVillage Harvest works with Filoli near Woodside to harvest fruit from the historic estate's gardens and orchards, donating produce to food banks.
• Foundation for Global CommunitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVillage Harvest was started in 2001 as a volunteer project of the Foundation for Global Community, combined with 4-H Club and Master Gardeners, establishing the founding organizational structure.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Solid Ground (Seattle): Solid Ground is a Seattle-area social services nonprofit that includes food recovery and gleaning programs — comparable regional anti-hunger organization with adjacent gleaning activities in a different U.S. geography.

Direct peers

• FoodForward: FoodForward is a Southern California-based food recovery nonprofit that gleans surplus produce from farms and backyards for donation to food banks — directly comparable volunteer-powered gleaning model operating in a different U.S. metro.
• Portland Fruit Tree Project: Portland Fruit Tree Project organizes volunteers to harvest residential fruit trees in the Portland metro area for donation to hunger relief agencies — same community-orchard gleaning model in a different regional geography.
• Community Harvest Project: Community Harvest Project engages volunteers to glean and grow produce for hunger relief in central Massachusetts — directly comparable mission of mobilizing volunteers to convert unharvested food into charitable supply.
• AmpleHarvest.org: AmpleHarvest.org operates a national online registry connecting home gardeners with nearby food pantries — directly comparable backyard-to-food-bank donation mission, though executed as a digital directory rather than hands-on harvesting.
• Boston Area Gleaners: Boston Area Gleaners harvests surplus crops from farms in eastern Massachusetts for donation to food pantries — comparable gleaning operation with an analogous volunteer-driven harvest model in a different U.S. region.
• Food Gleaners (Michigan): Food Gatherers is a Washtenaw County, Michigan-based food rescue nonprofit that recovers surplus food for distribution to those in need — comparable gleaning/rescue model serving a different regional food-bank ecosystem.

Emerging players

• The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation: The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation plants and donates fruit trees to communities and schools globally — adjacent nonprofit working in the fruit-tree space with a planting rather than harvesting focus.

Broad incumbents

• Food Recovery Network: Food Recovery Network is the largest student-led food recovery movement in the U.S., diverting surplus food from campus dining halls — broader food recovery nonprofit with overlapping mission but different operational focus.
• Imperfect Foods: Imperfect Foods (now part of Misfits Market) commercially rescues and sells surplus and cosmetically imperfect produce — broader-scale food rescue operator addressing similar food-waste problem through a paid retail model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/San-Jose/Village-Harvest/36439459102
• Instagraminstagram.com/vharvest
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/village-harvest

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

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 Village Harvest