Dive Brief:
- Instacart announced Thursday it is launching a SNAP eligibility screener.
- The tool, powered by Advocatia Solutions, Inc., lets people in the U.S. anonymously check if they may be eligible for SNAP benefits and find relevant state resources.
- The company says it’s the first online grocery platform to roll out this kind of tool. Last year, SNAP served an average of 42 million consumers each month, according to USDA data.
Dive Insight:
Instacart’s screener can review a person’s SNAP eligibility in less than a minute, speeding up the process for potential SNAP participants to enroll in the food assistance program.
To expand access even more, healthcare organizations like the National Association of Community Health Centers can now recommend and use Instacart’s SNAP eligibility tool in a clinical setting for people who are nutrition insecure.
“With food insecurity at an all-time high in the U.S., affecting more than one in every eight people, it’s more important than ever to raise awareness of critical assistance programs like SNAP that can help families meet their needs,” Dani Dudeck, chief corporate affairs officer at Instacart, said in the announcement.
In its announcement, Instacart noted its history with SNAP. The company helped champion industry adoption of SNAP online purchasing and in 2023 became the first online grocery marketplace to accept SNAP across the 50 states and Washington, D.C.
At the end of 2022, Instacart rolled out a discounted membership for SNAP participants.
Instacart has also continued to grow its reach to SNAP-eligible households. The company currently can connect nearly 98% of U.S. households enrolled in SNAP to roughly 180 retail banners and over 30,000 stores across North America.