Danone Institute North America

Overview 

Danone Institute North America announces a request for proposals for the fourth offering of its Danone Institute North America Sustainable Food Systems Initiative. Danone Institute North America (DINA) is a nonprofit innovation center managed by Danone North America, a subsidiary of the global food and beverage company Danone, which has a mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible. As a reflection of this, the goal of the DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative is to foster transdisciplinary, community-based work to impact human nutritional health. 

Initiative Description and Scope

The DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative is a competitive program that will select and fund up to five transdisciplinary teams in 2025 to design, implement and evaluate actionable community-based projects that contribute to the nutritional health of adult populations and support publication and communication about their impact.

Funding from this initiative can be used for various types of projects and can include pilot studies, feasibility testing, and needs assessments. (Please see the Danone Institute North America website link for examples of past projects that align with the current initiative and focus.) Each selected team will receive a USD 50,000 DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative grant to implement its project and amplify its message to a broader audience over a two-year period. Teams may use this grant mechanism to supplement current funding from other sources, but new project aims must be developed for the DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative funding.

As part of the initiative, selected teams must participate in a five-day in-person program June 22-25, 2025, in Boulder, CO. The objectives of this program are to provide expertise and support for enhancing projects through project-specific communication and evaluation assistance, and to facilitate the development of a community among award recipients to share ideas, offer support, and create a grassroots movement toward community-based approaches that improve human health and nutrition.  Programming will include content on contemporary approaches to human health and nutrition, such as food as medicine; a communications training from experts from the Danone company; presentations and panels of community stakeholders involved in health promotion efforts around nutrition; approaches to team dynamics; and panels and group discussions among the selected teams. The Danone Institute North America will cover the costs of this in-person programming, including transportation, meals and lodging for up to four team members.

The in-person program will be followed approximately three weeks later by a virtual team presentation to a panel of experts of a communications plan to support their project. The team that presents the strongest communication plan as determined by the panel will be awarded an additional USD 10,000 prize to apply toward expanded communications. 

The awards will cover a 24-month period for implementing and evaluating projects. Throughout this period, the teams will receive assistance by Danone Institute North America Board members to facilitate implementation, evaluation, and communication of their projects. Opportunities to stay connected with other award recipients will also be provided. The outcomes of funded projects will be communicated to the Danone Institute North America networks and broader groups of external stakeholders. 

Specific Objectives of the DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative: 

• Support innovative, actionable North America-focused initiatives to promote the nutritional health of populations. We are particularly interested in funding pilot interventions that promote healthy eating across the adult lifespan and at critical junctures, including young adulthood, pregnancy and postpartum periods, and healthy aging,
• Focus areas could include:

1. a food as medicine approach to improve eating behaviors of adults; 
2. diet and nutrition improvements resulting from closing food systems gaps that prevent equitable and sustainable access to healthy foods; 
3. promotion of accessible and balanced dietary patterns that help improve healthy aging, as well as short-term and long-term health across the lifespan.

• Foster a new generation of transdisciplinary thought leaders working together and advocating for food systems solutions that can build community and benefit the health and nutrition of community members.
• Amplify the understanding of the relationship between community-level food systems and human health among key decision-makers and the public. 
• Forge new networks and collaborative relationships among Danone North America, Danone Institute North America, academic institutions in North America, community groups involved with food systems issues, health of community members, and broader food systems disciplines.

Team Requirements 

To be eligible for this initiative, each team must meet the following requirements: 

• Teams should include four core team members representing diverse disciplines related to food systems, including, but not limited to, nutrition, health, community food access and social or behavioral sciences. All team members must actively work together on the project rather than serving exclusively in an advisory role.
• Members of a team that was a grantee in 2019, 2021, or 2023 are NOT eligible to apply for the DINA SFSI grant. 
• At least one team member must be a faculty member from a U.S. or Canadian institution of higher education. It is recommended that the faculty member be the lead or co-lead of the project.  The team may include other academic members, other professionals, and practitioners, such as dining directors and community leaders. 
• One team member must have expertise in program evaluation. A quantitative or qualitative evaluation of project outcomes is required.
• While more team members may be involved, only four will attend the in-person program in June 2025. To the extent possible, the four team members named in the application should be the team members who will be attending the program.

Proposal Requirements 

Proposals are due Friday, February 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST. Proposals must include the following components; proposals lacking one or more of these elements will not be considered:

1. A description of the project (limited to 2,000 words)

• Specific aims: What are the objectives of this project?
• Relationship between food systems and health and nutrition: How do the system level aspects of this project relate to the nutrition and health of adults?
• Plans for designing and implementing the project, including a timeline: What will the project look like and what is the timeline for activities?
• Plans for evaluation, including a description of outcome measures: How will the effectiveness of the project be determined? Which nutrition and health outcomes will be measured?
• A description of the broader community or venue that will be participating in and impacted by this project: What adult community groups will the project engage? How will the health and nutrition of the adult community benefit from participation in this project? 
• A communications plan that includes plans to amplify project results to a broader audience: How will the results of the project be communicated?
• The transdisciplinary nature of the project: What disciplines or stakeholder groups are involved with the project?

2. A detailed budget for a two-year project that includes how the funds will be spent throughout the project. Indirect or overhead costs may not be included in the budget and funding does not allow for faculty salary support.

 3. CV/resume of each of the team members who will attend the four-day program. 

Applications will be judged by Danone Institute North America based on: 

• Strength of project proposal in addressing DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative objectives, including the relationship between community and the health of adults. 
• Relevance and importance of the project objectives, feasibility of implementing the project, and plans and ability to assess outcomes.
• Evidence of required skills and resources to successfully complete the proposed project, including a quantitative or qualitative evaluation of the project’s outcomes.
• Evidence of a transdisciplinary team.
• Value to the field as it relates to the amplification potential and connection to the nutritional health of populations.
• Budget appropriate to the work.

Overview 

Danone Institute North America announces a request for proposals for a new award as part of its partnership with the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR). Danone Institute North America (DINA) is a nonprofit innovation center managed by Danone North America, a subsidiary of the global food and beverage company Danone, which has a mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible. Danone believes that the health of people and the health of the planet are inseparable. FFAR was established in the 2014 Farm Bill to build public-private partnerships that fund bold food and agriculture research. Over the past decade, FFAR has funded hundreds of grants and worked with more than 550 partners across the food and agriculture value chain to advance agricultural innovation The two purpose-driven organizations have partnered to expand DINA’s current Sustainable Food Systems Initiative grant program into a new grant program that demonstrates the link between agriculture, the food supply, and health.

Initiative Description and Scope

The DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative (SFSI) Focus on Food is a competitive program co-funded by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) that will select and fund up to three US or Canadian-based transdisciplinary teams in 2025. Projects may focus on designing and pilot testing action-oriented, community-based programs or etiological research aimed at understanding the factors that influence individuals or groups to 1) enhance or adopt sustainable food systems, 2) improve access to the local food supply, 3) build community self-sufficiency for meeting food need, or 4) support soil health and climate related activities. Projects that reach underserved local populations will be given priority consideration. Teams designing community-based programs also must identify and evaluate pre-specified outcomes of their work that support impact and show the potential for scalability or wider use.

Funding from this initiative can be used for various types of replicable, scalable projects and can include pilot studies, feasibility testing, needs assessments or quantitative or qualitative methods to understand factors influencing individuals or groups to engage in enhancing or adopting more sustainable food system approaches.  Each selected team will receive a USD $50,000 SFSI Focus on Food grant to implement its project and amplify its message to a broader audience over a two-year period. Teams may use this grant mechanism to supplement current funding from other sources, but new project aims must be developed for the SFSI Focus on Food funding.

As part of SFSI Focus on Food, selected teams must participate in a four-day in-person program June 22-26, 2025, in Boulder, CO. The objectives of this program are to provide expertise and support for enhancing SFSI Focus on Food projects through project-specific communication and evaluation assistance, and to facilitate the development of a community of practice among award recipients to share ideas, offer support, and create a grassroots movement toward sustainable food systems that improve the climate, human health, and nutrition. Programming will include content on the relationship between sustainable food systems and human health and nutrition; a communications training; presentations and panels of community stakeholders involved in the sustainable food ecosystem; and panels and group discussions among the selected teams. Some portions of  programming will overlap with recipients of SFSI nutrition grants and other programming will focus exclusively on issues around climate, soil health and sustainable food systems. The Danone Institute North America will cover the costs of this in-person programming, including transportation, meals and lodging for up to four team members.

The in-person program will be followed by virtual team presentations from SFSI and SFSI Focus on Food recipient teams on their project’s communication plan to a panel of experts. The team that presents the strongest communication plan as determined by the panel will be awarded an additional USD 10,000 prize to apply toward expanded communications. 

The awards will cover a 24-month period for the active project and evaluation by the team regarding the project’s impact. Throughout this period, the teams will receive assistance by Danone Institute North America Board members to facilitate implementation, evaluation, and communication of their projects. Opportunities to stay connected with other award recipients will also be provided. The outcomes of funded projects will be communicated to the Danone Institute North America networks and broader groups of external stakeholders. 

Specific Objectives of the DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative Focus on Food: 

· Support innovative, actionable North America-focused food supply initiatives to promote sustainable food systems that reflect the interconnectivity of community, health of people, and health of the planet. 

• Focus on areas of interest that could include:      
  • exploring farmer, health professional, or community understanding of and/or attitudes regarding the connection between soil health, nutrient density, and human health;
  • assessing knowledge, attitudes and understanding regarding the impact of sustainable agriculture on healthier food systems and communities; 
  • pilot-testing ways to close food systems gaps that prevent equitable and sustainable access to healthy food in local communities; 
  • creating local farms in urban deserts; empowering local farmers to work within their community to improve access to healthy food; 
  • researching or applying use of indigenous practices and their impact of sustainable agriculture; 
  • research that supports an underserved population’s access to healthier food systems/sustainable agriculture. 
• Foster a new generation of transdisciplinary thought leaders working together and advocating for food systems solutions that can build community capacity and benefit soil health, food access, equity, as well as the health and nutrition of community members.
• Amplify the understanding of the relationship between sustainable food systems, planetary health, and human health among key decision-makers and the public. 
• Forge new networks and collaborative relationships among Danone North America, Danone Institute North America, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, academic institutions in North America, community groups involved with food sustainability issues, health of community members, and broader food systems disciplines.

Team Requirements 

To be eligible for this initiative, each team must meet the following requirements: 

• Teams should include four core team members representing diverse disciplines related to food systems, including, but not limited to, agriculture, urban planning, nutrition, health, economics, community food access and social, behavioral, or environmental sciences. All team members must actively work together on the project rather than serving exclusively in an advisory role.
• Teams can include up to two members from a team that received a 2019, 2021, or 2023 Sustainable Food Systems Initiative grant and must include at least two new team members.
• At least one team member must be a faculty member from a U.S. or Canadian institution of higher education. It is recommended that the faculty member be the lead or co-lead of the project. The team may include other academic members, other professionals, practitioners such as dining directors, farmers, environmental advocates, community leaders and/or agricultural experts. 
• One team member must have expertise/experience in program evaluation. A quantitative or qualitative evaluation of project aims is required.
• While more team members may be involved, only four will attend the in-person program in June 2025. To the extent possible, the four team members named in the application should be the team members who will be attending the program.

Proposal Requirements 

Proposals are due Friday, February 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST. Proposals must include the following components; proposals lacking one or more of these elements will not be considered:

1. A description of the project (limited to 2,000 words)

· Specific aims: What are the objectives of this project?

· Relationship between improved soil health, food systems, and health and nutrition: How do the goals of this project relate to improving soil health or sustainable agricultural practices or enhance food systems in a way that increases food access, health, and equity for a localized or regional population? 

· For etiological research projects: How will the findings of this project further the understanding of the connection between sustainable agriculture and planetary health? 

· For community action programs: How will the effectiveness of the project be determined? What outcomes are realistic for the project and how will they be measured? 

· Plans for designing and implementing the project, including a timeline: What will the project look like and what is the timeline for activities?

· Plans for evaluation, including a description of quantitative or qualitative methods to be used and related metrics or measurement tools.

· A description of the broader community or venue that will be participating in and impacted by this project: What community groups will the project engage? How will community capacity be built through this project?  

· A communications plan that includes plans to amplify project results to a broader audience: How will the results of the project be communicated?

· The transdisciplinary nature of the project: What disciplines or stakeholder groups are involved with the project?

2. A detailed budget for a two-year project that includes how the funds will be spent throughout the project. Indirect or overhead costs may not be included in the budget and funding does not allow for faculty salary support.

3. CV/resume of each of the team members who will attend the four-day program. 

Applications will be judged by Danone Institute North America and FFAR based on: 

• Strength of project proposal in addressing the specific objectives of the DINA Sustainable Food Systems Initiative Focus on Food.
• Relevance and importance of the project objectives, feasibility of implementing the project and plans and ability to assess outcomes.
• Evidence of required skills and resources to successfully complete the proposed project.
• Evidence of a transdisciplinary team.
• Value to the field as it relates to the amplification potential and connection to the nutritional health of populations.
• Budget appropriate to the work.