Brief History

Double Up Food Bucks is a healthy food incentive program that doubles the buying power of SNAP recipients, helping underserved families bring home more fruits and vegetables, boosting business for American farmers, and energizing local economies. When customers use their SNAP benefits at a participating farmers market or retailer, they receive an equal amount of Double Up that can be used to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables. Lessons learned and evaluation results from the Double Up model aim to inform and influence future federal food assistance policy.

What started in 2009 as a collaboration with five Detroit farmers markets has grown into a national model for SNAP incentive programs in more than 25 states. In 2018, the program was available to shoppers at over 830 sites, including 260 grocery stores and 570 farmers and direct markets (mobile markets, farm stands, and Community Supported Agriculture programs). The program draws on a pool of funds raised from private foundations to “match” SNAP purchases at participating sites.

For a full program history, see our Double Up Five-Year Report. For a recent update on the Double Up national network, see the 2019 Double Up Annual Report.

Double Up is a Win-Win-Win

Double Up offers:

1. More healthy food for underserved families

2. Better business for farmers

3. A boost for local economies

Local Strength

In Michigan, the program has grown from five to over 250 sites. It has also expanded from farmers markets to grocery outlets. Since 2009, shoppers have spent more than $14.6 million on healthy food with their SNAP and Double Up dollars, which directly supports Michigan farmers and area businesses.

Some key highlights of our evaluation results from recent years speak to the “triple-win” and positive impacts of the program, including:

• Healthier Choices: 78% of customers reported that Double Up Food Bucks helped them increase the amount of fruits and vegetables they buy!
• Economic Boost: Over 4 years, SNAP use at farmers’ markets across the state has grown to $1.79 million, the highest SNAP sales in the Midwest region!
• Farmers Profit: 83% of farmers say they make more money at the farmers’ markets with Double Up Food Bucks!

National Scale

There are many variations of SNAP incentive programs around the country but few have been as comprehensively evaluated and designed for replication as Double Up. To replicate the model, we lean on lead organizations in each state that can make the biggest difference in the communities they serve, thus building strength from the ground up. And we’re committed to supporting those implementing organizations: we’re growing a community of practice by sharing tools and lessons learned to ensure Double Up remains a win for families, farmers, and local economies nationwide.

Lasting Change

Through our track record of positive impacts for families and farmers, Double Up Food Bucks and other incentive models have helped make federal support for SNAP incentives a permanent fixture in the latest Farm Bill. The 2018 Farm Bill (Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018) authorized $250M in support of the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), formerly known as the Food Insecurity Nutrition Initiative (FINI), between 2019 and 2023. The bill ensures that a minimum of $50M be available for this program annually.

We could not do this work without our national partners. Together, we are tapping into the full potential of food to grow the health and wealth of communities across the nation. Thank you for playing a vital role in this effort.

A growing number of healthy food incentive programs throughout the country offer a wealth of experience to draw from if you are planning to begin a strong program in your community. So why Double Up?

Since 2009, Double Up Food Bucks has become one of the largest healthy food incentive program in the country, as measured by the 928 active Double Up sites, the total SNAP and incentives spent at those sites, and Double Up’s impact in a diversity of urban, rural and suburban communities. Fair Food Network is also developing new technology and partnerships to make it easier for local partners to implement Double Up in a wide variety of settings. In all, Double Up has proven to be a scalable model program that can be a great fit for your community. Using the Double Up Food Bucks model will give your community a head start at putting together the pieces and help you scale up immediately to serve the most people as soon as possible.

Proven Success

The consistent feedback from site managers is that the overwhelming majority want to repeat the program year after year. Our tools, which we developed with input from site managers every year, will give you the support you need to add incentive programs to your area’s retail outlets simply and easily. The tools are designed to minimize additional program administrative burden to the sites and are appropriate for wide-ranging operational capacity, from farmers markets that are very dependent on volunteer support for basic operations to large chain grocery stores with a good deal of staff capacity.

Immediate Visibility

The award-winning communications and social marketing strategy that Fair Food Network has created includes strategies for reaching SNAP recipients, farmers, funders, and policymakers. Joining the Double Up network means your program will be featured in national communications and you’ll have access to a suite of professional tools for promoting the program in your area.

Double Up Food Bucks, Double Up, and the carrot/apple logo are registered trademarks of Fair Food Network, and are established and recognized within the field of practice. Programs that use the Double Up Food Bucks trademark will benefit from promotion as part of a national program and may also receive funding support, technical assistance, and other benefits of partnership.

Double Up Food Bucks is available for license to organizations throughout the US. To call your program Double Up Food Bucks, your program must meet basic criteria outlined on the Program Design page. Most elements of this toolkit and Fair Food Network’s assistance are still relevant for groups who choose to implement an incentive program that doesn’t meet the above criteria and isn’t called Double Up. We’re still glad to work together!

Flexibility FOR YOUR COMMUnity

Beyond the simple requirements outlined above, there is plenty of room for local innovation to leverage partnerships and resources in your community. Double Up complements a range of on-site activities, from nutrition education interventions and cooking demos, to programs that promote local agriculture and local businesses. Outreach materials and strategies can be tailored to your local communities while benefiting from the strong national brand.

Join a national policy & advocacy movement

Since incentive programs were first piloted, Fair Food Network staff, key policymakers, think tanks, and advocacy groups have articulated their ability to encourage healthy eating while supporting farmers and local economies. The best way you and your participating sites can contribute to policy advocacy – and the long-term sustainability of healthy food incentive programs – is to implement the standard Double Up program and collect uniform evaluation data for use in national advocacy. From the 2014 Farm Bill to the 2018 Farm Bill and beyond, we will continue telling the story of incentive program successes and advocating for future advances in the field.

In order to participate in the Double Up network and to use the trademarked Doule Up branding, Double Up implementing organizations sign a contract agreeing to uphold key program agreements. They include:

• Designating a lead organization
• Incentive model design
• Specific product eligibility
• Local sourcing
• Data reporting