IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v48y2018i4p291-306.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harvest Hope Food Bank Optimizes Its Promotional Strategy to Raise Donations Using Integer Programming

Author

Listed:
  • Sanjay L. Ahire

    (Department of Management Science, Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208)

  • Pelin Pekgün

    (Department of Management Science, Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208)

Abstract

Harvest Hope Food Bank (HHFB), based in South Carolina, serves primarily donated food to people in need in 20 counties across the state. It distributed 28 million pounds of food and fed over two million individuals in fiscal year 2014–2015. However, this constituted only 40 percent of the annual meal gap of about 70 million pounds in its service area. One of HHFB’s major strategic goals is to efficiently utilize its operating budget and its human and technical resources to increase food and dollar donations, which it raises through events corresponding to various promotional initiatives. We worked with HHFB management and staff to develop resource-capacity bills (i.e., the consumption of each resource per event), and calculated the expected food and (or) dollar donation yield per event. We then developed an integer programming optimization model to determine the optimal number of events of each initiative per year with the objective of maximizing the total annual meals yield (i.e., the number of meals that could be served using the food and dollar donations), subject to resource constraints and the allowable number of events of each initiative as advised by HHFB management. With our recommended optimal strategy, HHFB can provide 1.72 million additional meals per year (an increase of 41 percent) from these promotional events within the existing resource limits, which can help bridge the meal gap in its service area. HHFB has embedded the optimization model in its strategic planning of promotional events, and the allocation of resources to support these initiatives, to ensure that it can meet its 5- and 10-year meal-coverage targets. Additionally, HHFB is disseminating the value of this integrated framework to its peer food banks within the national Feeding America consortium.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanjay L. Ahire & Pelin Pekgün, 2018. "Harvest Hope Food Bank Optimizes Its Promotional Strategy to Raise Donations Using Integer Programming," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 48(4), pages 291-306, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:48:y:2018:i:4:p:291-306
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.2018.0944
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/inte.2018.0944
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.2018.0944?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 109-110, August.
    2. Senay Solak & Christina Scherrer & Ahmed Ghoniem, 2014. "The stop-and-drop problem in nonprofit food distribution networks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 221(1), pages 407-426, October.
    3. Andrew J Mason, 2012. "OpenSolver - An Open Source Add-in to Solve Linear and Integer Progammes in Excel," Operations Research Proceedings, in: Diethard Klatte & Hans-Jakob Lüthi & Karl Schmedders (ed.), Operations Research Proceedings 2011, edition 127, pages 401-406, Springer.
    4. Fuminori Toyasaki & Tina Wakolbinger, 2014. "Impacts of earmarked private donations for disaster fundraising," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 221(1), pages 427-447, October.
    5. Ilya O. Ryzhov & Bin Han & Jelena Bradić, 2016. "Cultivating Disaster Donors Using Data Analytics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(3), pages 849-866, March.
    6. Anonymous, 2014. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-2, May.
    7. Burcu Balcik & Seyed Iravani & Karen Smilowitz, 2014. "Multi-vehicle sequential resource allocation for a nonprofit distribution system," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(12), pages 1279-1297, December.
    8. Andreas Kretschmer & Stefan Spinler & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2014. "A School Feeding Supply Chain Framework: Critical Factors for Sustainable Program Design," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 990-1001, June.
    9. Ali Ekici & Pınar Keskinocak & Julie L. Swann, 2014. "Modeling Influenza Pandemic and Planning Food Distribution," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 11-27, February.
    10. Davis, Lauren B. & Sengul, Irem & Ivy, Julie S. & Brock, Luther G. & Miles, Lastella, 2014. "Scheduling food bank collections and deliveries to ensure food safety and improve access," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 175-188.
    11. Irem Sengul Orgut & Julie Ivy & Reha Uzsoy & James R. Wilson, 2016. "Modeling for the equitable and effective distribution of donated food under capacity constraints," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 252-266, March.
    12. Kevin F. McCardle & Kumar Rajaram & Christopher S. Tang, 2009. "A Decision Analysis Tool for Evaluating Fundraising Tiers," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 4-13, March.
    13. Arian Aflaki & Alfonso J. Pedraza-Martinez, 2016. "Humanitarian Funding in a Multi-Donor Market with Donation Uncertainty," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 25(7), pages 1274-1291, July.
    14. Robert W. Lien & Seyed M. R. Iravani & Karen R. Smilowitz, 2014. "Sequential Resource Allocation for Nonprofit Operations," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 301-317, April.
    15. Martin K. Starr & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2014. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 925-937, June.
    16. Marcelo Olivares & Gabriel Y. Weintraub & Rafael Epstein & Daniel Yung, 2012. "Combinatorial Auctions for Procurement: An Empirical Study of the Chilean School Meals Auction," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1458-1481, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Altay, Nezih & Narayanan, Arunachalam, 2022. "Forecasting in humanitarian operations: Literature review and research needs," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1234-1244.
    2. Shubhra Paul & Lauren B. Davis, 2022. "An ensemble forecasting model for predicting contribution of food donors based on supply behavior," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Tanzid Hasnain & Irem Sengul Orgut & Julie Simmons Ivy, 2021. "Elicitation of Preference among Multiple Criteria in Food Distribution by Food Banks," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4475-4500, December.
    4. Erin C. McKie & Sanjay Laxman Ahire, 2024. "Enhancing the Reach of Socially Missioned Nonprofits: Insights from a TOC-LP Application," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 54(2), pages 127-146, March.
    5. Akkerman, Renzo & Buisman, Marjolein & Cruijssen, Frans & de Leeuw, Sander & Haijema, Rene, 2023. "Dealing with donations: Supply chain management challenges for food banks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    6. Suárez, Carlos Aníbal & Guaño, Walter A. & Pérez, Cinthia C. & Roa-López, Heydi, 2024. "Multi-objective optimization for perishable product dispatch in a FEFO system for a food bank single warehouse," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 12(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mahmoudi, Monirehalsadat & Shirzad, Khadijeh & Verter, Vedat, 2022. "Decision support models for managing food aid supply chains: A systematic literature review," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    2. Akkerman, Renzo & Buisman, Marjolein & Cruijssen, Frans & de Leeuw, Sander & Haijema, Rene, 2023. "Dealing with donations: Supply chain management challenges for food banks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    3. Lester Blackmon & Ross Chan & Omar Carbral & Geeta Chintapally & Sandip Dhara & Peter Felix & Aditi Jagdish & Srini Konakalla & Jasbir Labana & Jeff McIlvain & Jason Stone & Christopher S. Tang & Jaso, 2021. "Rapid Development of a Decision Support System to Alleviate Food Insecurity at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank amid the COVID‐19 Pandemic," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(10), pages 3391-3407, October.
    4. Rey, David & Almi’ani, Khaled & Nair, Divya J., 2018. "Exact and heuristic algorithms for finding envy-free allocations in food rescue pickup and delivery logistics," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 19-46.
    5. Gemma Berenguer & Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen, 2020. "OM Forum—Challenges and Strategies in Managing Nonprofit Operations: An Operations Management Perspective," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 888-905, September.
    6. Reusken, Meike & Cruijssen, Frans & Fleuren, Hein, 2023. "A food bank supply chain model: Optimizing investments to maximize food assistance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    7. Barιş Ata & Deishin Lee & Erkut Sönmez, 2019. "Dynamic Volunteer Staffing in Multicrop Gleaning Operations," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 295-314, March.
    8. Alkaabneh, Faisal & Diabat, Ali & Gao, Huaizhu Oliver, 2021. "A unified framework for efficient, effective, and fair resource allocation by food banks using an Approximate Dynamic Programming approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    9. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    10. Esteban Ogazón & Neale R. Smith & Angel Ruiz, 2022. "Reconfiguration of Foodbank Network Logistics to Cope with a Sudden Disaster," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, April.
    11. Ohad Eisenhandler & Michal Tzur, 2019. "The Humanitarian Pickup and Distribution Problem," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 10-32, January.
    12. Alfonso J. Pedraza-Martinez & Sameer Hasija & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2020. "Fleet Coordination in Decentralized Humanitarian Operations Funded by Earmarked Donations," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 984-999, July.
    13. Davis, Lauren B. & Jiang, Steven X. & Morgan, Shona D. & Nuamah, Isaac A. & Terry, Jessica R., 2016. "Analysis and prediction of food donation behavior for a domestic hunger relief organization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 26-37.
    14. Sengul Orgut, Irem & Ivy, Julie S. & Uzsoy, Reha & Hale, Charlie, 2018. "Robust optimization approaches for the equitable and effective distribution of donated food," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(2), pages 516-531.
    15. Emre Çankaya & Ali Ekici & Okan Örsan Özener, 2019. "Humanitarian relief supplies distribution: an application of inventory routing problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 119-141, December.
    16. Buisman, Marjolein E. & Haijema, Rene & Akkerman, Renzo & Bloemhof, Jacqueline M., 2019. "Donation management for menu planning at soup kitchens," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(1), pages 324-338.
    17. Byrne, Anne T. & Just, David R., 2022. "Review: Private food assistance in high income countries: A guide for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    18. Md Hafizul Islam & Julie Simmons Ivy, 2022. "Modeling the role of efficiency for the equitable and effective distribution of donated food," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 44(2), pages 485-534, June.
    19. Jon M. Stauffer & Manoj Vanajakumari & Subodha Kumar & Theresa Mangapora, 2022. "Achieving equitable food security: How can food bank mobile pantries fill this humanitarian need," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1802-1821, April.
    20. Tanzid Hasnain & Irem Sengul Orgut & Julie Simmons Ivy, 2021. "Elicitation of Preference among Multiple Criteria in Food Distribution by Food Banks," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4475-4500, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:48:y:2018:i:4:p:291-306. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.