Finance & Investment Organizational Governance

Dole’s ‘Sunshine for All’ Fund Strives to Close Gaps on Good Nutrition

The $2M annual fund will aim to address gaps of food affordability and waste, as well as accessibility and acceptability, around the world. Dole is seeking strategic partners to help develop solutions.

Published 3 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Image: Naomi Shi/Pexels

Just over six months after issuing The Dole Promise to the world, Dole Asia Holdings and its subsidiaries are acting on it with the launch of the Sunshine for All™ Fund — a $2 million annual fund that will support global strategic partnerships and innovation in the areas of sustainability, food access and waste. The fund is being launched in tandem with “The Growing Distance” — a short film that addresses the critical gaps the company sees as barriers to good nutrition for all.

In summer 2020, Dole Packaged Foods announced its new “Promise” — a series of sweeping commitments for tackling food waste, eliminating processed sugar and plastics, and improving nutrition globally by 2025; and to be carbon neutral by 2030. The Promise is based on the adoption of a more sustainable and equitable business model, centered around an 18th-century Japanese philosophy called sampo yochi — in which business operates for the good of the seller, the buyer and society.

As Pier Luigi Sigismondi, President of Dole Packaged Foods Worldwide, told Sustainable Brands™ at the time: “At Dole, we believe we can provide a business model that will convert food waste into an affordable and easily available source of nutrition. And hopefully, we can create an example that other companies will follow.”

Ever-worsening global statistics around improper nutrition and food waste) around the world are fueling Dole’s search for solutions. By partnering with innovators, promising startups, and progressive partners, the company hopes that the Sunshine for All Fund will address these gaps of affordability and waste, as well as accessibility and acceptability.

“We believe purpose must permeate every part of the company to address these global challenges — from our business model and the products we make, to our work with partners, what we lobby for, and how we strive for a more equal world,” Sigismondi said. “Raising awareness of the global issues we face, and investing in the best thinking through this fund, is our way of ensuring not only that our purpose is fulfilled, but that we are driving tangible solutions and real systemic change — today.”

To help the fight against food injustice around the world, Dole is actively seeking entrepreneurs, startups, social-impact enterprises, and NGOs to collaborate on solutions for food production, nutritional science, compostable packaging, supply chain, logistics, sustainable agriculture and fast-moving consumer goods.

"Our work to bring Sunshine for All during the pandemic reinforced our belief that people will join us when they believe in what we do," said Barbara Guerpillon, Global Head of Ventures at Dole Packaged Foods and Asia Fresh. "The Fund is our signal to the world that we are open for business — and that business is finding, fuelling and fostering innovation, actions and change.”

To learn more, lend your expertise to the effort, or apply to the fund, please visit sunshineforall.com.