What if ending hunger was as easy as tapping your phone?
That’s the idea behind ShareTheMeal, the award-winning app from the World Food Programme (WFP). With just $0.80 and a few taps, anyone with a smartphone can help provide a meal to someone facing hunger — whether in Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon or beyond.
Ten years ago, WFP staffers Sebastian Stricker and Bernhard Kowatsch co-founded ShareTheMeal to connect smartphone users with families in urgent need of food. What began as a small experiment has grown into a global platform for impact, supported by World Food Program USA and powered by people around the world.
ShareTheMeal Launches and Sends Millions of Meals Worldwide
Launched in 2015, ShareTheMeal (STM) was the first project to go live through WFP’s Innovation Accelerator — a hub for disruptive ideas tackling hunger. Today, the Accelerator is one of the world’s top social impact startup programs, and ShareTheMeal remains its flagship success story.
ShareTheMeal was the first project supported by WFP’s Innovation Accelerator.
Here’s how the app has grown over time:
2015: The first campaign supported schoolchildren in Lesotho. Over 52,000 users across Germany, Austria and Switzerland helped provide more than 1 million meals.
2016: STM supported pregnant women and nursing mothers in Syria, where conflict and rising prices had put families at risk of malnutrition. Users helped share over 1 million meals during this critical time.
2018: The app introduced monthly giving, making it easier for donors to provide sustained support.
2020: Following the Beirut explosion, STM launched a campaign within 48 hours to fund WFP’s emergency food assistance, helping families cover essential needs like healthcare and shelter. That same year, ShareTheMeal was recognized globally, winning Google’s “App for Good” and earning a spot on Apple’s Best of 2020 in the “Making a Difference” category.
STM’s second campaign focused on mothers and children in Syria.
STM Scales to a Global Movement
ShareTheMeal succeeds because it’s simple, transparent and personal. Users can pick a country or crisis they care about and even track progress toward fundraising goals. The app is available in multiple languages and currencies, which makes global giving accessible to anyone, anywhere.
ShareTheMeal makes it easy to support WFP’s lifesaving work across the globe.
Strategic partnerships with platforms like Google and Apple have helped boost visibility, but it’s the global community of everyday donors that drives impact. Since its launch, 1.8 million users have shared over 270 million meals and completed 128 fundraising goals across dozens of countries.
ShareTheMeal proves that fighting hunger doesn’t have to be complicated — or expensive. It just takes one tap to make a difference.
Download ShareTheMeal and join a global movement to end hunger.
