HATCH launches $10 million campaign to close U.S. protein gap

HATCH is betting that hunger relief has entered a new phase: one where protein, not just calories, is the metric that matters. On World Hunger Day, May 28, 2026, the group launched The Missing Piece with the CDC Foundation, a national crowdfunding push aimed at closing what it says is an annual shortfall of nearly 800 million pounds of protein in the charitable food system.

The campaign carries a $10 million goal and a match that doubles donations up to $8 million thanks to Tony Robbins. HATCH says that level of support could help deliver as many as 3 billion protein-rich meals each year, a scale that would make protein access a central fundraising pitch rather than a side note tucked inside a broader food drive.

That shift matters for food recovery groups, pantry coordinators, and volunteer networks that still hear neighbors talk mostly about boxes, bags, and total meal counts. Protein is harder to move through the charitable supply chain than shelf-stable starches or canned goods. Cost, transportation, and cold-chain limitations all make it more difficult to get meat, eggs, dairy, and other protein-rich foods from farms and manufacturers to families that need them most. For organizations built around doorstep collection and pantry partnerships, that means pickup planning and donor messaging may need to account for different foods, different storage needs, and different upstream partners.

HATCH has been moving in this direction for years. In 2022, it said it aimed to sustainably deliver 300 million protein-rich meals by 2027. In 2024, a partnership with Egglife Foods tied the same mission to better nutrition, diet, health, and well-being for food-insecure communities. The new campaign pushes that framing harder, and the CDC Foundation has tied the effort to the White House’s hunger initiative focused on ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity by 2030.

The public health case is equally direct. The CDC Foundation says millions of Americans face barriers to nutritious food, and that those barriers raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. USDA defines nutrition security as building on food security by focusing on the coexistence of food insecurity and diet-related disease. Feeding America’s health-equity work makes the same point from another angle: food insecurity is linked to adverse health outcomes and higher rates of chronic disease, with 9.1% of households with older adults and 11.4% of older adults living alone experiencing food insecurity in 2022.

For food banks and recovery nonprofits, that changes the test. The question is no longer only how much food can be gathered. It is whether the network can consistently source the foods that do the most nutritional work, and whether donors will be asked to help close a protein gap that is now being measured in pounds, meals, and health outcomes.