 The Hunger Project’s unconventional approach to solving the problem of hunger through changing the social conversation about the root causes of hunger led to skepticism and critical reactions.A six-month investigation by the Center For Investigative Reporting of Oakland, California and "Mother Jones Magazine" found that very little of the money collected for The Hunger Project was used for the purchase and distribution of food and alleged in a report on the investigation published in the magazine in December 1978 that Erhard was "using the Hunger Project not only for self-aggrandizement but for promoting the for-profit corporation he founded, as well.