The movement traces its origin back to the Tempo period of the Edo era (1600--1868) in Japan, when an unprecedented famine took a great toll in human life. At that time, Masakane Inoue, the founder of the Misogi-kyo group, a Japanese folk religion, advocated providing food for the starving masses and began devoting himself to the task, with the result that many lives were saved.

The successor to the spirit of the movement is Shoroku Shinto Yamatoyama, a religious group which has friendly ties with Rissho Kosei-kai. Its headquarters are in Hiranai-machi, in Aomori Prefecture in the northern part of Japan's main island of Honshu. The organization arranges a special day for members to forgo a meal on the 18th of every month and donates the money equivalent to the cost of the meal to be used to promote world peace.

Rissho Kosei-kai, principally its Youth Department, started a similar activity from 1974. In 1979, the organization officially launched the Donate-a-Meal Movement and the late Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, founder of the organization, introduced it in Japan's prestigious Asahi Shimbun newspaper, to promote it into becoming a national movement. In 1988, the 10th anniversary of the official inauguration of the Movement, the Rissho Kosei-kai Youth Department was awarded a United Nations Peace Award as recognition for its continuing contribution to the United Nations and world peace.

The movement is designed so that people can participate in it wherever they may be for as long as they wish to continue. This is the spirit of the movement as the late founder envisioned it.

The Donate-a-Meal Movement is officially conducted on only two days in each month. However, Rissho Kosei-kai has also inaugurated "Special Fridays" for young members still attending school and adult members who work at office jobs, so that people nationwide can have a part in this important peace activity.