What is a food bank partner agency agreement?
Food banks rarely hand food directly to the people who need it. They supply a network of partner agencies — pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, youth and senior programs — and depend on each one to store food safely, give it away fairly and report what it did. A written partner agreement is how a food bank shows donors, funders and regulators that donated food reaches clients free and safely.
This template names the partner and its charitable or nonprofit status, the program type, site, hours and area served. It commits the partner to free distribution only, with no required religious activity, donation or membership, fair and non-discriminatory access, and simple eligibility rules. It covers ordering and any shared-maintenance contribution, storage and temperature logs, trained staff, permits, same-day recall handling and incident reporting, distribution records and monthly or quarterly reports, extra rules for government-program food, client privacy, monitoring visits with corrective action, use of the food bank's name, responsibility and insurance, renewal and ending, and return of food and equipment.
- Best for
- Food banks and their partner pantries, shelters, meal and youth or senior programs
- Signed by
- Authorised people at the food bank and the partner agency
- Key duties
- Free distribution, food safety, recalls, reporting, client privacy
- Length
- 3 pages, initialled by both on every page
When to use a food bank partner agency agreement
- A regional food bank signing up a new church-run pantry
- Renewing partner agreements with every agency before the new year
- Adding a shelter's meal program to the food bank's network
- A mobile or pop-up distribution partner taking food to rural areas
- A youth program receiving snacks for an after-school club
What you fill in
19 blanks, then the name and email of each person who signs: food bank, partner agency.
1 The partners
- Agreement date*
- Food bank (legal name)*
- Food bank address
- Partner agency (legal name)*
- Partner's charitable or nonprofit status*
2 The program
- Type of program* food pantry · emergency shelter · meal program · youth or after-school program · senior program · mobile or pop-up distribution
- Distribution site address*
- Regular distribution hours*
- Area served
- How the partner decides who it serves
- Partner's main contact*
- Contribution to the food bank's costs* No handling or shared-maintenance fee is charged. · The Partner pays the shared-maintenance contribution set in the Food Bank's current fee schedule for eligible items.
3 Standards
- Food safety training*
- Service reports due* monthly · quarterly
- Report due by day of the following month*
- Site monitoring visits* at least once a year · at least twice a year · at least once every two years
4 Term
- Agreement lasts (months)*
- Notice to end (days)*
- Governing law*
5 Who signs
- Food bank signature and date, job title, initials on every page · The food bank's director or another authorised person.
- Partner agency signature and date, job title, initials on every page · The partner's director, board chair or another authorised person.
What the food bank partner agency agreement covers
- The Program
- Free distribution and fair access
- Ordering and collection
- Storage and food safety
- Recalls and incidents
- Records and reporting
- Client privacy
- Monitoring visits
- Acknowledgement and publicity
- Responsibility
- Term, corrective action and ending
- General
Using the food bank partner agency agreement, step by step
1 Name the partners
Enter the food bank and partner, the partner's charitable or nonprofit status and its main contact.
2 Describe the program
Choose the program type, enter the site, hours and area served, and describe how the partner decides who it serves, if it uses eligibility rules.
3 Set the standards
Set the food safety training requirement, report frequency and due day, and how often you visit.
4 Set the term and send
Enter the term and notice period and send it to the partner agency to sign. The signed agreement is filed in your FileIt vault.
Tips before you send it
- Keep eligibility rules simple and visible, and check your network's rules on what partners may ask clients for.
- Government-program food usually carries its own rules on eligibility and records; give partners those rules in writing.
- Laws protecting good-faith food donors differ by place — they are not a substitute for temperature logs and recall procedures.
- Track each partner's agreement end date and food handler certificates in FileIt so renewals don't lapse.
Sign it online in minutes
- Fill in the blanks. Names, dates and amounts go straight into the agreement — the preview shows exactly where.
- Name who signs. Tick “This is me” for your own part. FileIt builds the PDF with every signature, date and initials box on the right line, and you can check or move anything before sending.
- Send it. Each signer gets a secure link and signs from any device — no account needed. The signed PDF, with an audit trail and a Certificate of Completion, is filed in your vault and emailed to everyone.
Food bank partner agency agreement: frequently asked questions
Can a partner charge clients anything?
No. Food is given free. The partner may not sell or barter it, ask for a donation or membership, or require attendance at a religious service or other activity. Any shared-maintenance contribution is paid by the partner to the food bank, never by clients.
What happens when there is a recall?
The partner acts on it the same day it is notified: removes the affected product, holds or destroys it as instructed, and reports back what it had and what it did.
Can the food bank end the partnership?
Either side may end it with the notice you set. The food bank can first agree a corrective plan and pause orders, and may end it immediately if food is sold, misused or stored so as to put clients at risk.
Can it be signed electronically?
In most countries, including the US (ESIGN Act and UETA), the UK, the EU (eIDAS) and Canada, an electronic signature is generally valid for an agreement like this one. FileIt keeps an audit trail and a Certificate of Completion with the signed PDF as evidence of who signed and when.
Is this template free?
Yes. The template is free to use with the eSignature app in FileIt, and the people you send it to don't need a FileIt account to sign.