How our funding works
We partner with public and private organizations around the country who want to help get healthy food to Americans. They provide the funding. You access it through our app.
Millions of people around the country could benefit from eating more fresh fruits and vegetables (and other healthy foods). But healthy food often comes with a higher price tag. And that can be challenging on a tight budget or in a global crisis. That’s where we come in.
We’re building partnerships with dozens of state and local governments, and private organizations who care about the health of our country. We use the funds they provide to load up digital wallets with real money we distribute to Americans like you. It’s all inside the Tangelo app.
Every state has different rules for eligibility. But the goal is the same in every state: get people access to consistent, healthy food – month after month. This helps keep individuals and families healthier and creates stronger communities for all of us.
A pioneer in helping get fruit and vegetables to Americans who need them, Wholesome Wave is one of Tangelo’s premier funding partners.
In the early 1980s, Michel Nischan was an award-winning chef with a bright future ahead of him. Having grown up with a strong connection to his family farm, he knew the value of fresh produce and what it meant to the dining experience. But despite his upward culinary trajectory, Michel traded his pursuit of (more) James Beard awards, rave reviews and sold out dining rooms to found Wholesome Wave, which has evolved into the leading national organization addressing nutrition insecurity.
The catalytic moment for Michel was when his son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. It necessitated changes in how his family ate at home and soon Michel translated those changes into what he served his customers. But that wasn’t enough to deal with the nutrition insecurity he saw all around the country.
Over the years, Wholesome Wave has done everything from raising millions in private money to empower families to buy healthy food to its government advocacy work, which has led to the doubling of SNAP for fruits and vegetables and enabling ‘produce prescriptions’ for low-income patients struggling with diet-related diseases.
The partnership between Tangelo and Wholesome Wave is built on an overlap of values, one that imagines a world free of diet-related illness and the end of food and nutritional insecurity.