Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children, which supplies meals to kids in impoverished countries, prioritizes employee retirement success through thoughtful plan design and generous employer support. It covers most plan fees, offers an immediately vested safe harbor match and automatically enrolls employees. The QDIA automatically monitors and adjusts participants’ saving rates based on their data and portfolio. Since the plan launched, in 2015, assets have grown to $12.2 million, participation to 94% and average deferrals (Roth) to 7%. Despite nonprofit salaries, over 95% of participants are on track for meaningful income replacement in retirement.

To get to know them better, PLANSPONSOR sent the 2026 Plan Sponsor of the Year winners a list of questions from which to choose four to answer. Below are responses from Laura Kern and Melissa Orrey, benefits manager, on behalf of Feed My Starving Children.

PLANSPONSOR: How does your organization’s leadership approach its commitment to employee retirement readiness and financial well-being?

Feed My Starving Children: At Feed My Starving Children, addressing retirement readiness is an important part of how we care for employees who carry out our mission. We recognize that many team members choose nonprofit work out of a passion for ending world hunger, sometimes earning less than they might in the private sector. To support their long-term financial security, we have enhanced our retirement plan by removing barriers to participation and making it easy to save.

Employees are eligible shortly after hire, automatically enrolled, receive a generous safe harbor match, are immediately 100% vested, and benefit from the organization paying most plan-related fees.

PLANSPONSOR: What does winning Plan Sponsor of the Year mean to you and your employer? Will you publicize the win outside of the human resources/benefits team?

Feed My Starving Children: Winning Plan Sponsor of the Year is an incredible honor. We are proud of our retirement program and believe this award demonstrates our commitment to supporting employees’ financial futures, also that it highlights our success in building a retirement program that serves a diverse workforce across multiple locations and states.

We look forward to celebrating this achievement with staff, leadership and stakeholders as an example of how FMSC invests in its people while advancing its mission.

PLANSPONSOR: What is one piece of advice you would offer to other plan sponsors aiming to improve employee financial well-being or retirement readiness?

Feed My Starving Children: Our advice to other plan sponsors is to make eligibility, enrollment and investing as simple as possible. By removing barriers to participation and making it easy to save, employers can help employees take meaningful steps toward retirement readiness without requiring them to become retirement experts. When the path to saving is easy, straightforward and accessible, more employees will build healthy financial habits and improve their long-term financial security.

PLANSPONSOR: What priorities or areas of focus will guide your retirement program over the next few years?

Feed My Starving Children: Over the next several years, our focus will be on helping more employees achieve retirement readiness by encouraging them to increase saving rates, become more engaged and leverage personalized solutions that drive better outcomes.

In addition, we are launching a three-part Financial Empowerment learning series designed to help employees build financial confidence and strengthen their overall financial well-being. The program will provide practical education, actionable strategies and tools for every stage of life and cover topics such as budgeting, debt management, emergency savings, retirement planning and long-term financial security. By expanding financial education beyond the retirement plan, we aim to empower employees to make informed financial decisions, navigate life’s financial challenges with greater confidence, and achieve both their short- and long-term financial goals.

Together, these efforts reflect our commitment to supporting employees’ financial futures and helping them build confidence in both their retirement readiness and overall financial health.