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But even though the department has been split, the silos remain a thing of the past, Wallace says, adding, “The synergy is still alive.”

“It has been our road map to success, and we couldn’t break from it now,” she says.

A study in donor retention
City Harvest is one of many independent nationwide affiliates of Feeding America. As such, in addition to local food rescue from restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers and farms, it receives food that’s processed through the national organization from companies that prefer to give products en masse to a huge clearinghouse rather than in smaller amounts on the local level. Feeding America doesn’t govern City Harvest, but in order to avoid fundraising competition it does stipulate that affiliates can only do donor acquisition in specific areas. City Harvest is restricted to acquisition efforts within the area it serves — the five boroughs of New York City.