"This is one of our 4 food pantries that we offer at Peace,” said Todd Goehle, the Peace Inc. development coordinator.

Peace Inc. is a non-profit organization that helps people become self-sufficient.

"We try to carry a range of items that are both nutritious and attractive to our clients," Goehle said. 

The organization served more than 11,000 people in Onondaga and Oswego counties.

But Goehle recently discovered there is a lack of food specifically in Syracuse.

"We needed to increase our resources for our food pantry, as well as develop more strategic partnerships with other community partners," said Goehle.

Goehle reached these solutions through the help of the Central New York Community Foundation.

The organization offers a Performance Management Learning Community program to help non-profits collect data and measure their effectiveness.

"They can look at their data and identify programs or needs that they didn't know, or they can justify the grant dollars that they're receiving for these programs,” said Robyn Smith, CNY Community Foundation Strategic Initiatives director.

Now, organizations can take their analyses a step further through the Foundation's new tool called "data dating."

"We can say there's one organization that is seeing that their clients are having food insecurity, but they may not have a food pantry,” said Smith. “So, we'll then connect them with another organization who does do that service."

"Sometimes it can be difficult for non-profits to come together and collaborate,” said Goehle. “Data at least for Peace has proven to be a great introductory tool to sort of form other collaborations."

These organizations are joining forces to empower people to thrive.