Frequently Asked Questions

We focus on chronic, persistent hunger as distinct from the famine emergencies that make the news. Less than 10 percent of hunger-related deaths are due to famine.

Chronic, persistent hunger is not due merely to lack of food. It occurs when people lack opportunity to earn enough money, to be educated and gain skills, to meet basic health needs and have a voice in the decisions that affect their community.

The UN FAO estimates (2006) that 820 million people are suffering malnutrition to the point where their health, productivity and life expectancy are impaired. 

Nearly one-half of the world’s remaining hunger is in South Asia. One-third is in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the remainder is in "pockets" of hunger in Latin America and the rest of Asia.

The percentage of hungry people has decreased while population has increased, leaving a similar number of hungry people. In addition, there were dramatic setbacks during the 1980s, due to economic shocks and policy failures, particularly in Africa.

Since the end of the cold war in 1990, there has been great progress in key issues that are now widely regarded as prerequisites to the end of hunger: the spread of democracy, the growth of civil society, and the broader emancipation of women.

In recent years, progress in ending hunger has - indeed - slowed and has gotten worse in some areas. Our assessment is that the "easier" parts of the problem have been solved, and that there has not yet been sufficient effort to deal with the deeply entrenched social conditions that give rise to the remaining hunger in our world.

It is overly simplistic to say that overpopulation causes hunger. Countries like India and Bangladesh have grown enormously in the last 50 years, while hunger has decreased. If population were the cause of hunger, then hunger would be a problem for the future, when in fact it was much worse 50 or 100 years ago.

Some would even say that hunger causes overpopulation – in countries where many children die, families have more children to compensate.

In truth, the issues are inextricably linked. Population growth makes it far more difficult to build the schools, health centers and other services needed to have a healthy and productive population. And only when people know their children will live will they stop having so many children.

The Hunger Project is a global, strategic organization and a worldwide movement committed to the sustainable end of world hunger.

In Africa, India, Bangladesh and Latin America, it works to empower local people to create lasting society-wide progress in health, education, nutrition, family incomes and the empowerment of women. It uses a two-pronged strategy: mobilizing grassroots people for self-reliant development, and mobilizing committed local leadership to create an enabling environment for grassroots action to succeed.

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The problems we face, both at home and internationally, are increasingly global. Population, environment, illegal immigration, disease, war and political instability – increasingly these are issues that ignore borders and affect us all. As Willie Brandt once said, "As long as hunger exists, peace cannot prevail."

In addition, The Hunger Project is committed to ending world hunger as an expression of global citizenship, global partnership and global responsibility. We consider that hunger exists not as a local or national problem, but as a global problem. All of us have a responsibility to create a world where all people have the chance to lead lives free from hunger.

While The Hunger Project focuses on the most severe forms of hunger, which occur primarily in South Asia and Africa, many innovative groups addressing domestic hunger have "spun off" from The Hunger Project – organizations created by Hunger Project supporters, and utilizing our principles and approach.

The money goes for the work of The Hunger Project, which means it pays the costs of mobilizing and empowering indigenous leadership and catalyzing the two-pronged strategy described in our Principles and Methodology. It pays for staff, transportation, telephone calls, training and strategy workshops. It pays for "catalytic projects" such as the creation of training manuals for village leaders, training in new job skills for villagers, getting schools and health centers started, revolving microenterprise loan funds. We often use funds as seed money for villagers and to launch innovative new projects where other resources are not available.

Some of our money goes for fund-raising and general administration. We are committed to spending less than 25 percent in those areas, which is considered very good. This is particularly important because, unlike agencies that receive large government grants, virtually all of our money is raised from individuals.

The Hunger Project’s income and expenses have received an unqualified audit by an independent accounting firm every year, and we meet the highest standards of charity watchdog agencies.

When we commit to launch a new program in India, Bangladesh or other developing countries, we are committed for the long-haul. To ensure we can keep this commitment in the face of fluctuations in the economy or fund-raising results, organizations such as ours are only really considered solvent when they have a reserve equal to 30–40 percent of their annual budget. For example, a 1990 financial crisis in Japan cut our income in half almost overnight – yet we never disrupted our programs in India and Africa.

We never work with corrupt officials, and no Hunger Project money ever goes to governments or government officials. The Hunger Project works only in countries where we have access to honest, committed leaders at the highest levels of government. We then identify other government officials to work with who have commitment and integrity, at every level of society. Through this partnership, we pioneer honest ways of working that can set new standards of effectiveness and integrity for that society.

The Hunger Project was first conceived in February 1977. The founders of The Hunger Project were Werner Erhard, the founder of est; the late John Denver, the entertainer; and Bob Fuller, the former president of Oberlin College. These individuals met with an ad hoc working group for several months, including Joan Holmes (who was appointed in March 1977 to lead the organization); Prof. Roy Prosterman, an expert in land reform; the late Dr. Dana Meadows, a noted environmentalist, economist and author of Limits to Growth; and other experts.

The Hunger Project was launched in a series of 12 public presentations in the United States from August to October 1977 that included addresses by Buckminster Fuller and Dick Gregory. It was incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable corporation in California on 25 October 1977.

Joan Holmes, Founding President of The Hunger Project, currently serves on the Global Board of Directors.

Werner Erhard served as a member of The Hunger Project’s board of directors from 1979 through December 1990, when he resigned for personal reasons.

John Denver served as a member of the board from October 1981 until April 1993. Until his death in 1997, he continued to be one of our most generous and steadfast financial supporters.

Shortly after the establishment of The Hunger Project, Bob Fuller turned his attention to peace and other social issues.

The Hunger Project is non-sectarian and non-partisan.

The only affiliations of The Hunger Project are its membership in various coalitions committed to international development and to combating hunger and poverty. It is a member of the American Association for Voluntary International Action (InterAction), Women's Edge and is on the roster of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

It's unfortunate, but there is some seriously false information about The Hunger Project posted on some websites. For a more detailed response to these false and misleading statements, click here.