Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

Summary

What do they do? Local clinics and the food bank distribute produce and prescribed staples. The model assumes 26 weekly produce opportunities and six monthly staple boxes; monthly prescription frequency is a planning judgment. Costs include missed pickup capacity. Do not transfer Contra Costa Extra Helpings' separate dose. More

Why this approach interests us

Additional assistance may improve food security beyond what existing services provide.

Our main reservations

The pathway from assistance to incremental health contains judgmental causal, duration and financing assumptions. A zero health effect remains plausible.

What do you get for your dollar?

Our best guess is $19,591,837 per better life—10 incremental QALYs. This is an exploratory program model, not measured organization-wide effectiveness. Inspect the model →

best guess: $19,591,837 — USD per 10 incremental QALYs; very low confidence
positive scenarios: $461,760–$3,047,619,048 — Joint assumptions, not confidence bounds
geography: Solano County; not San Francisco city — Kept separate from SF-city recommendations
funding room: Unverified — Not a current restricted donation offer

1. What do they do?

Local clinics and the food bank distribute produce and prescribed staples. The model assumes 26 weekly produce opportunities and six monthly staple boxes; monthly prescription frequency is a planning judgment. Costs include missed pickup capacity. Do not transfer Contra Costa Extra Helpings' separate dose.

Define the extra service

One six-month course offered to an adult with diabetes and food insecurity

Price the actual bottleneck

Reconcile existing public, private and partner resources before attributing delivery to a new gift.

Test incremental health

Measure outcomes against existing alternatives, including burdens and potential harms.

Scope of this review. Solano County; not San Francisco city

2. Monitoring and information sharing

One six-month course offered to an adult with diabetes and food insecurity

External studies and local program disclosures. A randomized food-bank diabetes-support trial did not improve HbA1c, depression or diabetes distress. A crossover analysis of 284 of the original 568 participants found a .49-point food-insecurity score change; it is not an independent replication. Mapping each point to .01 utility is entirely judgmental. Do not divide the score by 12 to manufacture utility. Central .25 effective years models gradual onset within six months.

Our assessment. No local randomized QALY estimate. All local transfer and donor additionality coefficients are explicit judgments.

3. Qualitative assessment

Additional assistance may improve food security beyond what existing services provide.

Key reservations

Food access, dignity and purchasing power have value not fully captured by this narrow health ledger.
Do not add food-bank and downstream partner effects for the same household.
The favorable case does not establish an available or cost-effective marginal gift.

Benefits not included in our estimate

Unmodeled child development and mortality
Public benefits converted directly into QALYs
Whole-organization reach
Unverified healthcare savings

4. What do you get for your dollar?

$19,591,837 per 10 QALYs

A randomized food-bank diabetes-support trial did not improve HbA1c, depression or diabetes distress. A crossover analysis of 284 of the original 568 participants found a .49-point food-insecurity score change; it is not an independent replication. Mapping each point to .01 utility is entirely judgmental. Do not divide the score by 12 to manufacture utility. Central .25 effective years models gradual onset within six months.

A better life is our comparison unit of 10 additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), potentially spread across people. These are uncertain estimates, not measured returns or verified donation offers.

How we calculate the estimate

INSPECTABLE HEALTH BRIDGE: Q = financing × (score improvement × transfer × utility per score point × effective years − harm); price = 10 × donor cost / Q when Q > 0
$19,591,837

Model inputs and assumptions

cost: 600 (range: 300 / 600 / 1000). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.
scoreImprovement: 0.49 (range: 0.77 / 0.49 / 0.21). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.
utilityPerPoint: 0.01 (range: 0.03 / 0.01 / 0.002). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.
transfer: 0.5 (range: 0.75 / 0.5 / 0.25). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.
effectiveYears: 0.25 (range: 0.5 / 0.25 / 0.125). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.
fundingAdditionality: 0.5 (range: 0.75 / 0.5 / 0.25). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.
harmQalys: 0 (range: 0 / 0 / 0). Favorable / central / pessimistic. The full combination is a scenario, not a confidence interval. Source anchor or analyst judgment; see evidence below.

Constructed course costs—not a verified funding tranche

Favorable: $461,760 per 10 QALYs. 0.006497 QALY per modeled unit. Maximum cost to reach $100K/10Q: $64.97
Central: $19,591,837 per 10 QALYs. 0.0003062 QALY per modeled unit. Maximum cost to reach $100K/10Q: $3.06
Pessimistic positive: $3,047,619,048 per 10 QALYs. 0.000003281 QALY per modeled unit. Maximum cost to reach $100K/10Q: $0.03

Uncertainty. No extra delivery or no causal health improvement gives no finite positive impact price. Harm can outweigh benefit. Financing multiplies both added benefit and harm; unchanged delivery does not create new harm.

5. Funding and previous grants

The May 2026 county/tribal agreement allocated $280,000 to continue this program. That is existing funding, not a $280,000 shortfall. No additional-patient donor offer verified.

Central $600 = $260 produce allowance + $120 staples + $130 logistics + $90 enrollment/admin. All unit prices are judgments. Expanded gross resources of $1,118 add donated food, volunteers and clinical support, before recipient travel/time. These are not audited marginal quotes or a societal incremental ICER. The May 2026 county/tribal agreement allocated $280,000 to continue this program. That is existing funding, not a $280,000 shortfall. No additional-patient donor offer verified.

This review does not establish a verified marginal funding offer or a complete history of grants.

We have not verified a suitable donation route for this reviewed activity. Confirm the legal recipient and intended allocation before donating.

6. Sources

Provider program newsletter. Primary source. Primary program, funding or research evidence. Published: 2024; retrieved: 2026-09-07.
Existing tribal funding. Primary source. Primary program, funding or research evidence. Published: 2026-05-05; retrieved: 2026-09-07.
Randomized food-bank diabetes trial. Primary source. Primary program, funding or research evidence. Published: 2018; retrieved: 2026-09-07.
Crossover food-security analysis. Primary source. Primary program, funding or research evidence. Published: 2022; retrieved: 2026-09-07.
Independent food-as-medicine trial. Primary source. Primary program, funding or research evidence. Published: 2024; retrieved: 2026-09-07.

Annual expenses: years and sources

Average annual expenses (three consecutive fiscal years): Not available. Organization size is separate from the modeled cost-effectiveness of a donation.

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

Three years of organization-level expenses have not yet been verified for this report. No other organization or fiscal sponsor budget has been substituted.