Food Bank Tech
Real tools for people in real need. Free, open, maintained.
AxionDeep exists to build technology that matters. A portion of our engineering output goes to open-source tools for underserved communities, starting with food banks and food security organizations. No paywall. No signup. No strings. Built by people who've stood in that line.
The why
We've been on the receiving end. That informs everything. The people who run food banks are juggling intake spreadsheets, paper volunteer sheets, donated software that doesn't talk to other donated software, and a dozen well-intentioned platforms that all want a logo placement and a monthly fee.
The technology problems are not hard. The problem is that nobody who's built it has stayed to maintain it, and the people who actually use it never get a say in what gets built. We are trying to do that part right.
The approach
Discovery, not features
Q3 2026 starts with conversations. Two or three food banks, multiple sessions each, with the people who actually use the systems. We are not pitching anything. We are asking what hurts most. Whatever wins is what we build first.
Build the painful thing
First release is whatever the discovery work flags as the highest-leverage pain point. Likely candidates: inventory and donation tracking, client intake with privacy controls, volunteer scheduling with no-shows handled gracefully, delivery and distribution route planning. We build what they ask for, not what looks good in a demo.
Release it open and unbranded
MIT-licensed code on GitHub. No AxionDeep watermark on the tool itself. Any food bank should be able to fork it, host it, modify it, and never have to credit us. This is not a marketing channel. It is a contribution.
Maintain it
Abandoned open source helps nobody. We commit to keeping the tools alive, including security patches and dependency updates, for as long as they are in active use anywhere. If we ever have to walk away, we hand off the maintainer keys honestly.
Likely first modules
Final scope is set by discovery, not by what looks good on a slide. These are the candidates we expect to surface.
Inventory and donation tracking
Lightweight intake of donated goods, expiration tracking, allocation to outgoing distributions. Spreadsheet-replaceable, mobile-friendly, works offline at the loading dock.
Client intake
Privacy-respecting intake flows. Minimum data, clear retention rules, no analytics shipping client information offsite. Multilingual by default.
Volunteer scheduling
Shift signup, reminders, no-show tolerant scheduling. Handles the reality that volunteer commitments slip without making it punitive.
Distribution and route planning
Delivery route optimization for organizations that bring food to clients. Honest about constraints (vehicle limits, driver availability, address accessibility), printable for non-app users.
Operating principles
- ·Talk to the people who use these services before building anything.
- ·Open source everything. Any food bank should be able to run it.
- ·No branding on the tool. This isn't marketing. It's contribution.
- ·Maintain it. Abandoned open source helps nobody.
If you run a food bank
We'd like to talk. Discovery calls in Q3 2026 are going to be a small cohort, on purpose. If your team has a workflow that hurts and you're willing to walk us through it candidly, please get in touch. There is no cost, no commitment, and no obligation to use anything we end up building.