Starbucks handles most donation and community support requests at the local store level — each licensed or company-operated store manager has discretion over community giving within their store's budget. There is no central online portal that processes donation requests from the public. Here's how to approach it effectively.
The most reliable way to request a donation from Starbucks is to visit or call your nearest store and ask to speak with the store manager. Explain your organization and event briefly and ask whether they can donate gift cards or other support for your fundraiser or community event. Store managers typically have a small community budget for exactly this purpose.
What works: specific, local, community-focused requests. A school fundraiser, a neighborhood nonprofit event, a local food drive. What doesn't work as well: vague requests, requests from organizations without a local presence near that store, and requests without documentation of your organization's legitimacy.
The Starbucks Foundation (starbucks.com/responsibility/community) focuses on large-scale grantmaking to organizations working on food security, economic opportunity, and environmental sustainability. Their grants go to established nonprofits with national or international scope — not small local organizations. If your organization is large and established, check their grant cycles at the Starbucks Foundation website. Most small nonprofits should focus on the local store route instead.
Starbucks has a program called FoodShare that donates unsold food to Feeding America food banks at the end of each day. This isn't a request-based program — it's an operational commitment. You can't request FoodShare donations for your organization, but you can look for Feeding America member food banks in your area that receive Starbucks food donations.
Last updated May 2026. Starbucks Foundation at starbucks.com/responsibility. FoodShare details from starbucks.com. Errors: [email protected]
Starbucks donation programs operate at two levels: individual store-level community support and the Starbucks Foundation's formal grant programs for nonprofits. These are completely separate, and most small organizations interact only with the store-level program.
At the store level, Starbucks typically donates gift cards (not cash), coffee products, and Food Share items — unsold food that would otherwise be discarded. The Starbucks Food Share program, launched in 2016, has donated over 150 million meals worth of food to food banks and nonprofits across the US through a partnership with Feeding America.
The Starbucks Food Share program operates through a network of community partners rather than individual requests. If your organization is a food bank or hunger relief nonprofit, contact Feeding America (feedingamerica.org) about connecting to this program — individual Starbucks stores don't manage Food Share donations directly, they go through the Feeding America network.
End-of-day food donations from individual stores do sometimes go to local shelters and food banks based on store manager discretion. If you run a shelter or food pantry within walking distance of a Starbucks, introduce yourself to the store manager in person. These arrangements are informal and vary entirely by location.
Gift card donations for fundraising events (raffles, auctions, silent auctions) are the most common Starbucks donation request. These are handled at the district or regional level, not the individual store. Submit requests through the Starbucks community relations contact form at least 6–8 weeks before your event. Include:
Approval rates are not published, but organizations that serve local communities (youth programs, schools, food banks) and submit well in advance have better outcomes than last-minute requests.
The Starbucks Foundation makes formal grants to 501(c)(3) nonprofits focused on community resilience, opportunity youth, and farmer/source community support. Grant amounts typically range from $10,000 to $100,000. These are competitive grant programs with specific funding cycles — not donation requests. Visit the Starbucks Foundation page at starbucks.com/responsibility/community to check current open grant cycles.
Starbucks receives far more donation requests than it can fulfill. A national chain with thousands of locations still has limited community giving budgets allocated by district. Smaller local coffee shops, regional roasters, or grocery store chains sometimes have more flexible and responsive community giving programs because they serve smaller territories and make decisions closer to home.
If a Starbucks donation doesn't come through, alternatives worth contacting for similar gift card or product donations: Panera Bread Community Giving (local managers), Dunkin', local independent coffee roasters, and regional grocery chains (many have formal donation programs).