Aprendiendo de la experiencia del Banco de Alimentos de Madrid: 30 años trabajando en proyectos de voluntariado para ayudar a las personas vulnerables

Abstract

Over the last three decades, the work carried out by the Madrid Food Bank has sparkedrenewed interest in analysing the keys to its successful trajectory. However, the debate aroundpeer organisations has gained prominence at the international level, particularly in periods ofeconomic turbulence (the COVID19 pandemic, Ukraine, and the Palestinian conflict). Fewresearch studies have comprehensively examined the determinants of governance(Takahashi, 2021) from the point of view of the implementation and project management aswell as the estimation of their impact on society.This paper analyses the experience of the Madrid Food Bank through a learning process thathas accumulated over the past 30 years, using the Working with People (WWP) model, whichintegrates expert and experiential knowledge of the agents involved in projects and actions. Itanalyzes the initiatives carried out by both permanent and occasional volunteers (“The GreatFood Collection” and Kilo Operations) whose purpose is to provide food security to the mostvulnerable people through the delivery of basic basket products, fruits and vegetables andothers (food recovered from food chain agents). All these actions carried out also aim to raiseawareness about food waste and the situation of the most disadvantaged people.Recent research suggests that factors such as the quality of donor information, systemsupport, and process appropriateness positively affect satisfaction, trust, and retention,ultimately impacting the financial performance of third-sector organisations (Al-dmour et al.,2019). Furthermore, it should be noted that individual donations to Food Banks are influencedby the perceived characteristics of beneficiaries, and among others, the frequency of donationsis determined by motivational factors (Bennett et al., 2021).The importance of these institutions is manifested not only in the social dimension but alsofrom the perspective of governance and sustainability, where the participation of stakeholders,adaptation to changes, and adoption of technologies play a crucial role in the success ofprojects and actions (Boonklum, 2023; Mossenson et al., 2023).The results obtained show the success in the management of the projects and the effectsgenerated on the population since their foundation in 1994. In recent years, the creation ofnew links between universities and companies, such as Cátedra Bancos de Alimentos-UPM,has broadened the scope of its projects and actions. The generation of trust in society, its solidorganizational structure, and its valuable human capital are the main factors of credibility ingovernance, managing to serve 137,124 people and 551 entities daily during the year 2023.