FareShare Cymru grant award evaluation: 2015 to 2024 (summary)

FareShare Cymru (FSC) redistributes surplus edible food from businesses in Wales to community organisations known as Community Food Members (referred to as ‘members’ in this report). Members pay a small fee for the food received.

The evaluation aimed to assess the impact and sustainability of the Welsh Government grant funding for FSC from 2015 to the end of the 2023 to 2024 financial year, and to identify future opportunities and options to support food waste redistribution in Wales.

In total, FSC has received just over £3m in funding from Welsh Government since 2015.

The evaluation methodology was based on a Theory of Change approach grounded in the UK Treasury Magenta Book guidance and the OECD’s Better Evaluation criteria. This approach involved creating a logic model and an evaluation framework to guide the analysis of both primary and secondary data and to test how the grant was expected to achieve its goals.

Primary research was conducted with stakeholders, businesses that donate food to FSC, members and volunteers alongside analysis of FSC’s monitoring data and reports to Welsh Government.

The main limitation of the methodology was the limited availability of members and businesses to engage in the evaluation fieldwork.

The evaluation found that the FSC grant played a key role in enabling FSC to scale up its operations efficiently by ensuring the right infrastructure, people and skillsets were in place. As a result, the grant has helped redistribute more surplus edible food to more members across a broader geographical area.

Through the allocation of grant funding, FSC has been able to expand its membership across south Wales and, increasingly since the COVID-19 pandemic, into north and southwest Wales. Over the grant period, FSC has reached 55 additional members in north Wales, and 12 members in southwest Wales, while maintaining and further developing a strong membership in southeast Wales and Swansea where 183 members were supported though the 2023 to 2024 financial year.

FSC reported that balancing expansion with operational efficiency has been an ongoing challenge, particularly as the scale of demand outpaces surplus edible food availability and the nature of surplus edible food available for redistribution has changed.

FSC’s monitoring data showed that 5,651 tonnes of food and drink have been diverted from waste to redistribution over the funded period, contributing towards over 17 million meals and providing an estimated financial saving of £18.6 million for members.

Fieldwork conducted with a small sample of businesses that donate food to FSC indicated that donors value FSC’s role as a trusted redistributor of surplus edible food. When asked what they would do with their surplus edible food without FSC, three businesses said they would dispose of it as waste, while three others said they would use it for animal feed, compost it, or donate it elsewhere.

Members generally found that sourcing food from FSC was cheaper and more reliable than other options and gave them a wider variety of products. Members noted that without FSC’s support they would have to obtain food from more expensive sources, which would reduce the level of support they could provide to beneficiaries. This would also result in more time spent applying for grants to raise funds, in an increasingly challenging funding landscape.

FSC volunteers play a key role in the organisation’s food redistribution efforts. Several key outcomes were reported by volunteers including an improved sense of wellbeing and social connection and increased awareness of food waste. Volunteering with FSC also enabled them to access training and develop their employability. Since 2015, approximately 138 volunteers or employees have gained a formal qualification, and 59 volunteers have moved into paid employment.

The evaluation involved a review of the surplus edible food redistribution landscape in Wales, compared with the rest of the UK. In Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, redistribution follows a more centralised model, positioning FareShare as the primary redistributor, supported by local organisations and partner networks. In contrast, England’s funding model is challenge-based, using competitive grant schemes to encourage solutions for food redistribution and waste prevention. It is important to note that the original FSC grant (October 2015 to October 2018) was also awarded through a competitive process, before transitioning to direct funding. This differs from the approaches taken by the devolved nations in later funding cycles, which have focused on funding specific equipment and facilities to support redistribution activity.

The research found that surplus food redistribution in the devolved nations appears less diverse than in England. While there are a number of players in the food redistribution landscape in the devolved nations, FareShare is the only organisation in these nations operating at a large scale. However, in England there are multiple large scale organisations outside of FareShare including national and regional level redistributors such as His Church as well as regional-level distributors such as The Bread and Butter Thing, the Community Shop, the Felix Project and others. The lower diversity of the redistribution landscape in devolved nations is likely to be influenced by the smaller population sizes and operational scale alongside the policy interventions pursued by devolved authorities.

The evaluation recognised that the FSC grant has played a critical role in enabling increased self-sufficiency over time. Analysis of FSC monitoring data reported to Welsh Government and Charity Commission financial records show that FSC has reduced its reliance on public funding, with self-sufficiency increasing in Southeast Wales and Swansea.

However, demand for surplus edible food at the community level continues to outpace supply in Wales. FSC’s waiting list data indicates that 95 organisations are waiting to receive support, and one-third have been on the list for over two years.

Looking ahead, FSC staff and stakeholders identified several opportunities to enhance long-term financial and operational sustainability, including: exploration of a ‘FareShare Plus’ model, allowing members to purchase additional surplus edible food at a low cost; the development of a training centre to diversify revenue; and expanding networks in underserved areas like Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.

At a policy level, WRAP Cymru’s Analysis of Welsh Government food waste reporting suggests that while the 60% target figure remains reachable, further action is needed across the supply chain to meet the 60% reduction target for 2030.

The findings from this evaluation highlight a potential long-term risk associated with improved food waste prevention measures. Welsh Government’s Workplace Recycling Regulations (2024), mandates that all non-domestic premises producing more than 5kg of food waste per week must now separate their waste for recycling. Fines can be applied to restaurants, cafes, hotels, schools, hospitals, and offices with canteens, for non-compliance. Data is not yet available to assess the effects of this. Stakeholders in the food redistribution sector anticipate that regulatory progress, as well as the growing interest in rolling out compulsory food waste reporting for businesses (supported by over 30 major UK retailers and producers) may lead to an initial surge in the volume of surplus edible food, followed by a longer-term decline as businesses improve efficiencies.

Members that depend on redistributed surplus food may consequently struggle to operate and co-exist with efforts to mitigate surplus, unless alternatives are considered.

Since 2015, FSC has consistently met and, in some cases, exceeded grant targets, showing year-on-year growth in volume of food redistributed, number of members supported and level of self-sufficiency. The grant has also enabled Welsh Government to respond flexibly to emerging societal challenges.

The grant funded activity has delivered results efficiently, enabling FSC to scale its operations. As FSC has grown, it has achieved greater economies of scale, whilst maintaining outcomes and adapting to meet the demands of an evolving socio-economic context, despite increased operational costs and changes in the types of surplus edible food available in the supply chain.

The evaluation provides limited insight into the broader impact of the funding on the redistribution sector. To better understand long-term effects, more detailed information is needed on how members’ service users benefit from receiving surplus edible food, and how businesses interact with FSC.

The grant aligns with Welsh Government priorities to reduce food waste and addresses a market failure by redirecting surplus edible food to benefit communities. However, long-term relevance depends on balancing the need for surplus edible food for members, with improving the environmental management of food waste by preventing food waste at source. While the FSC grant conditions align well with tackling poverty and community resilience ambitions, the coherence of the funding with circular economy policies and waste could be strengthened through improved environmental measures and targets. Wales currently lacks a coordinated redistribution strategy and there is insufficient data on the scale and range of redistribution activity across Wales to fully assess the grant’s environmental impact.

The grant has supported the development of a financially sustainable redistribution model in Wales to date. However, given the expected short-term increase of available surplus edible food (followed by a longer term decline), any grant award will require closer monitoring in future years; ensuring that funding can support food waste reduction closer to source in alignment with Welsh Government’s commitments to reduce edible food waste. Increasing the focus on redistributing surplus edible food at source, would support a more balanced approach to meeting Welsh Government’s food waste reduction goals, and better align with this objective and the circular economy principles set out in the Welsh Government Beyond Recycling Strategy.

The evaluation made the following evidence-based recommendations to Welsh Government.

Update the overall approach to data-monitoring for the grant award, to improve Welsh Government’s ability to assess impacts and produce a more accurate picture of the added value and impact delivered by future recipient(s) of the grant funding. As part of this:

• Integrate enhanced environmental targets for the fund to ensure that there is a strong, traceable environmental impact resulting from the funding.
• Improve data collection/sharing regarding types of business donors, quantity and quality of produce donated, and consistency of donations made to the redistribution sector (to improve insight into where waste occurs in the supply chain).
• Encourage future fund evaluations to employ a social value approach to assessing outcomes (with a view to generating a social return on investment analysis for redistribution activities).

Report author: Megan Byrne, Kerry KilBride, Sophie Wheeler, Jessica Mann, Mariana Fikry, Susannah Lynn

Views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and not necessarily those of the Welsh Government.

For further information please contact:
Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Division
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Email: ResourceEfficiencyAndCircularEconomy@gov.wales

Social research number: 76/2025
Digital ISBN: 978-1-80633-167-3