We have supported hundreds of grocers across the country and have provided answers to the most common questions we’ve received. If you have another question, please reach out!
The Basics
The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) is a competitive grant program funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) with support from USDA Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA). The program aims to increase food and nutrition security while contributing to local economies and improving food systems in the United States.
In the context of GusNIP, an incentive is a financial encouragement to purchase more fruits and vegetables. In nutrition incentive projects, a participant in either the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) receives an incentive when they make a purchase at a food retail outlet. This incentive is often a discount or coupon for fruits and vegetables.
In produce prescription projects, incentives are referred to as “prescriptions” for fruits and vegetables. Incentives are “prescribed” to participants by medical clinicians based on diet or related chronic health conditions. Participants can redeem their prescriptions at food retail outlets or clinics and do not need to purchase anything to receive the prescription.
No, unfortunately, for-profit grocers and other food retailers cannot apply for the GusNIP grant.
However, grocers should feel encouraged to reach out to nonprofit organizations in their network that might have the capacity and interest in applying for a GusNIP grant.
The Details
GusNIP Nutrition Incentive Program grants are limited to governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. These organizations are typically mission-driven, with the aim of reducing hunger and food insecurity and improving health outcomes for communities. In the past, grantees have included institutions of higher education; local, county, Tribal, territory, or state government agencies; cooperative extension agencies; and various nonprofit organizations.
Congress set aside $250 million to the GusNIP grant program in 2019. Each year, funding available for nutrition incentive and produce prescription projects varies. So far, the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has invested $41.5 million in 38 GusNIP projects! This includes $36.3 million for 27 Nutrition Incentive Program projects and $5.2 million for 11 Produce Prescription Program Projects.
There are GusNIP projects in most of the United States. Check out the GusNIP Site Map, which allows you to identify active projects by state and incentive project type. (Their partner food retail sites are also marked on the site map.)
The Grocers Solutions Center is happy to help make an introduction. If there isn’t currently a grantee active in your area, we can help you think through ways to prepare for a grantee partnership down the road.
The good news is that most major grocery/supermarket POS manufacturers and dealers have designed solutions being used across the country. These solutions provide retailers with capability to conduct automated GusNIP transactions that do not require cashiers to make product eligibility and incentive amount decisions.
The Grocers Solutions Center is always here to help retailers and project funders determine the transaction processing best suited to the store. Get Support
How Nutrition Incentives Impact Grocers
GusNIP funding organizations generally reimburse retailers on a monthly basis. Most automated POS transaction solutions also include capabilities to produce store reporting that includes information retailers are required to share. Retailers produce an invoice with supporting reporting after the last day of the month and submit the information to the funding organization. Reimbursement is generally provided 10-14 days later.
Grocers who participate in nutrition incentive programs have very positive reviews. After the initial time investment to work out the details, grocers typically notice the following:
- Increased customer traffic: GusNIP incentives draw more SNAP/NAP participants to retailers, boosting traffic, especially for small stores and farmers markets in lower-income areas.
- Higher produce and overall sales: Retailers in GusNIP programs see increased fruit and vegetable sales and improved inventory turnover and overall business performance. It’s hard to say exactly what increases you may see within your store, but in some cases, the program has increased produce sales by 10 percent or more.
- Increased customer loyalty: By participating in GusNIP, retailers expand their reach and foster customer loyalty.
- Positive economic impact: The increased sales and traffic contribute to local economies, supporting farmers and the entire supply chain.
Although it may seem a bit daunting to get a program off the ground, we have yet to speak with a retailer who did not experience the positive impacts after launching a nutrition incentive program.
Grocers find the program can increase their customer base, increase produce and overall sales, and positively impact their community. The Grocer Solutions Center is available to troubleshoot along the way. Reach out today.
There are many steps to bringing a GusNIP program to your store. If there is a GusNIP grantee/program in your area actively looking for and onboarding retailers, it might be a matter of a few conversations and some testing at the POS level. If there are no GusNIP grantees in your area, it will require connecting with an affiliated nonprofit.
First, rest assured that the information you share with your partner grantee organization is kept confidential and only used internally for reporting and evaluation purposes. It will not be shared with other retailers or competitors.
In the application phase with grantees, you may be asked for the following information:
Monthly SNAP/NAP sales
- Total produce sales
- Percentage of produce sales (in comparison to overall sales)
- Other information about the sourcing of produce (if your program focuses on local
and/or regional produce)
Monthly report: It depends on the program, but generally your monthly report includes the following information:
- Produce department sales
- Local produce department sales
- Dollars distributed through the incentive program
- Dollars redeemed through the incentive program
- Transaction counts of the incentive program
- SNAP/NAP tender amount
- SNAP/NAP transaction count