Instacart provides digital stipends for consumers in need

Instacart is partnering with a food non-profit to assist customers in purchasing produce.

The grocery technology company is collaborating with the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to provide more than 600 local families in Indianapolis with $50 per month of stipends from the Instacart Health Fresh Funds. Launched in September 2022, Instacart Health Fresh Funds enable any organization to give consumers special digital stipends to buy nutritious food from grocery retailers on the Instacart platform.

[Read more: Instacart offers health-driven shopping options]

The Indianapolis program also provides participants with a complimentary Instacart+ subscription membership for four months. Instacart+ provides free delivery and pickup on all orders over $35, 5% credit back on eligible pickup orders, and reduced service fees on every order.

Instacart says it will bring this program to additional cities across the country later in 2023, with the goal of creating a national network of virtual food pantries.

“In addition to making healthy choices easier, we believe our technology has the opportunity to modernize the traditional food pantry, with a unique and scalable approach that brings more food to more people that need it,” Dani Dudeck chief corporate affairs officer at Instacart, said in a corporate blog post. “In Indianapolis, we’re holding hands with PHA to give more than 600 families access to a wide-reaching network of national, regional and local grocers in their area – alongside the funds to purchase the nutritious foods they need.

“As a company, we’re excited to continue to explore new ways for our technology to improve nutrition security and health equity,” said Dudeck. “By pairing our technology with the efforts of the broader public and private sectors, we can all make a difference – and help put more nutritious food in the hands of those that need it most.”

Instacart enables holiday grocery donations

During the 2022 holiday season, Instacart offered a program called Community Carts. The initiative let customers donate to local food banks via its platform. Customers could select any participating food bank to support and shop as many items as they liked from the food bank's personalized wish list. Instacart shoppers then delivered the items directly to the food bank according to their local donation guidelines, through Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.