Instacart enables holiday grocery donations

Instacart is launching a new, limited-time feature called Community Carts that lets customers donate to local food banks via its platform.

To start giving, customers can open the Instacart app or website and tap the Community Carts banners. From there, they can select any participating food bank to support and shop as many items as they would like from the food bank's personalized wish list. Once a customer has placed their food bank order, they can share their donation via messaging or social media apps directly from Instacart.

Instacart shoppers will then deliver the items directly to the food bank according to their local donation guidelines, through Saturday, Dec. 31. Through Sunday, Dec. 4, the company will match every dollar spent on Community Cart orders with a donation, up to $100,000, to food bank non-profit Feeding America.

"One of the most impactful ways Instacart can help fight nutrition insecurity is by using our technology and scale to empower the community for good," said Asha Sharma, COO at Instacart. "We know that many people want to give food during the holidays, but may not know what their local food bank needs or how to get it to them. With the launch of Community Carts, we're making it possible for millions of people to make food donations this holiday season with just a few taps, taking the guesswork out of how, what and where to donate. Through Community Carts, together we can make an outsized impact in communities nationwide facing hunger."

"Over the past four years, Instacart has helped to provide millions of meals to Feeding America member food banks, and we're proud to continue our partnership with the launch of Community Carts," said Lauren Biedron, VP of corporate partnerships at Feeding America. "By partnering with member food banks, Instacart is unlocking innovation and scale for community giving, with food going to people who need it most this holiday season."

Instacart is running Community Carts following the recent launch of Instacart Health, the company's initiative focused on making it easier for consumers and healthcare providers to shop for nutritious food products. Instacart Health’s goals also include increasing nutrition security among communities in need.

Community Carts are available now on the Instacart app for iOS and coming soon on Android. Instacart partners with more than 1,000 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 75,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.