Case Study: General Mills achieves large-scale community health impact and millions of meals with Vitality Institute

General Mills - Customer Case Study

General Mills, a global food manufacturer, faced the challenge of tackling community health issues—particularly hunger, youth nutrition and physical activity—while aligning its philanthropic work with business goals and measuring impact. The Vitality Institute (Vitality) examined General Mills’ Foundation programs in its "Beyond the Four Walls" case study to show how corporate giving, employee engagement and product reformulation can support community and workforce health.

Vitality documented General Mills’ multi‑pronged solution—large-scale food donations, support for Hunger‑Free Minnesota, Champions for Healthy Kids, the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, Playworks, the Good Works volunteer program, and targeted product reformulation—and reported measurable results: 50 million meals donated since 2013, 64.45 million meals added to Minnesota’s hunger‑relief system, 1 million youth reached through Champions for Healthy Kids, 13,000+ schools (≈6.8 million students) engaged with PYFP, $151 million in giving in 2014, high employee volunteerism (~75%), and strong Playworks outcomes (e.g., an 85% reduction in disciplinary incidents); Vitality used these findings to demonstrate clear community health impact.

General Mills