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Better Food Foundation Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Better Food Foundation Inc

To promote dietary changes to build a healthy, equitable, humane, and environmentally-sustainable food system.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$465k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$1.7MAnimals$1.0MHealth$231kEnvironment$100kEducation$35kOther$0
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 4 grants below total $698,922, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,052,832 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $353,910 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $54k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $180k
  • $250k+1 grant · $465k
$180,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$360k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FARM FORWARD INC$465,422
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO$180,000
FOOD EMPOWERMENT PROJECT$41,000
UNIVERSALIST UNITARIANS FOR THE$12,500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 92% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%EVANGELICALS FOR SOCIAL ACTION: $150k → 6%REAL FOOD MEDIA PROJECT OF INFACT: $10k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO: $180k → 11%THE SHAMAYIM V'ARTEZ INSTITUTE: $100k → 14%A WELL-FED WORLD: $10k → 14%CALVIN UNIVERSITY: $20k → 11%FARM FORWARD INC: $465k → 12%CREATUREKIND: $190k → 15%GREENER BY DEFAULT: $155k → 11%FOOD FOR CLIMATE LEAGUE INC: $100k → 14%UNIVERSALIST UNITARIANS FOR THE: $13k → 6%THRIVE BALTIMORE: $38k → 19%SYL KO: $10k → 7%EASTERN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 6%THE SHAMAYIM V'ARTEZ INSTITUTE: $97k → 14%CALVIN UNIVERSITY: $15k → 11%FARM FORWARD INC: $280k → 12%CREATUREKIND: $183k → 15%UNIVERSALIST UNITARIANS FOR THE: $13k → 6%THRIVE BMORE: $31k → 19%THE SHAMAYIM V'ARTEZ INSTITUTE: $75k → 14%FARM FORWARD INC: $167k → 12%CREATUREKIND: $150k → 15%UNIVERSALIST UNITARIANS FOR THE: $13k → 6%AFROVEGAN SOCIETY: $83k → 19%SHAMAYIM V ARETZ INSTITUTE: $75k → 14%FARM FORWARD INC: $164k → 12%CREATUREKIND: $95k → 15%AFROVEGAN SOCIETY: $75k → 19%THE SHAMAYIM V'ARTEZ INSTITUTE: $21k → 14%AFROVEGAN SOCIETY: $50k → 19%NEW ROOTS INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%AFROVEGAN SOCIETY: $23k → 19%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
IL
MI
OR
PA
CA
VA
MD
DC
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.6M · 8 repeat orgs$516k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +51% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
6

Total granted

$2.6M
$295k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+9%

Still filing today

63%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 68% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $221k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Food & NutritionEnvironmentEducationAnimalsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • FF
    FARM FORWARD INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +51% · 38% of their budget
  • BH
    BETTER HEALTH BETTER LIFE INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $231k · revenue ×233
  • EU
    EASTERN UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2018–2019 · $200k · revenue +68%

Funded once

  • GB
    GREENER BY DEFAULT
    one grant, 2023 · $155k
  • FF
    FOOD FOR CLIMATE LEAGUE
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue -12%
  • NR
    New Roots Institutegraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +110%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
A Just World

Our mission is to promote a world where all beings live a just life of dignity and respect. To this end, we engage in practical actions, raise funds, spread understanding and foster compassion.

Animals
2
Better Food Foundation Inc

To promote dietary changes to build a healthy, equitable, humane, and environmentally-sustainable food system.

Food & Nutrition
3
A Greener World

A Greener World empowers sustainable solutions in agriculture, promoting and supporting real-life farming models to the public and offering farmers and ranchers practical guidance, resources and support on achieving truly sustainable…

Food & Nutrition
4
Eat Real Certified Inc

We empower food service programs and school districts to make food delicious, nourishing, and responsible through our evidence-based certification program. We provide education and support that inspires students, schools, and communities…

Public Benefit
5
Animal Equality

Animal equality is an international organization working with society, governments, and companies to end cruelty to farmed animals.

Animals
6
Animal Outlook Inc

Animal outlook is a national animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals using a variety of strategies, including investigations, legal advocacy, corporate and food system reform, and vegan outreach.

Animals
7
The Plantrician Project

To educate, equip & empower physicians & other healthcare providers about the benefits of plant-based nutrition, to produce resources to inform & inspire their patients to shift to a whole food, plant-based way of living.

Science & Tech
8
Zero Foodprint

Zero foodprint is mobilizing the food world around agricultural climate solutions. our work aims to create a circular economy that incentivizes practices that actively draw down carbon dioxide and offer our best hope of addressing the…

Food & Nutrition
9
The Food Project Association

FarmSTAND uses legal advocacy and public education to address the environmental, labor, and animal welfare impacts of industrial agriculture and to support the viability of small family farmers.

Crime & Legal
10
Center for Jewish Food Ethics

Jewish veg's mission is to encourage and help jews to embrace plant-based diets as an expression of the jewish values of compassion for animals, concern for health, and care for the environment.

Food & Nutrition
11
Food Action

Our mission is to educate, organize and advocate for food and farming systems to become economically prosperous, ecologically sound and socially equitable.

—
12
Faunalytics

Empower animal advocates with research, insights, and strategies that maximize their effectiveness to end animal suffering.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greener By Default; the most unlike its peers is Creaturekind. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

13 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 16 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
8/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CREATUREKIND: $618,337 · OtherCREATUREKINDSHAMAYIM V ARETZ INSTITUTE: $368,274 · OtherSHAMAYIM V ARETZ INSTITUTEUNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO: $180,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGOTHRIVE BALTIMORE: $69,200 · OtherTHRIVE BALTIMORE+2 more: $47,500 · OtherFARM FORWARD INC: $1,076,350 · AnimalsFARM FORWARD INCBETTER HEALTH BETTER LIFE INC: $231,200 · Food & NutritionBETTER HEALTH BE…GREENER BY DEFAULT: $154,657 · Food & NutritionGREENER BY DEFAU…Food Empowerment Project: $41,000 · Food & NutritionFood Empowerment…+2 more: $20,000 · Food & NutritionEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $200,416 · EducationCALVIN UNIVERSITY: $35,000 · EducationFOOD FOR CLIMATE LEAGUE: $100,000 · EnvironmentInfact DBA Corporate Accountability: $10,000 · Environment
Other$1,283,311Animals$1,076,350Food & Nutrition$446,857Education$235,416Environment$110,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFARM FORWARD INC: $1,076,350 over 4y, 38% of budgetCREATUREKIND: $618,337 over 4y, 77% of budgetSHAMAYIM V ARETZ INSTITUTE: $368,274 over 5y, 77% of budgetBETTER HEALTH BETTER LIFE INC: $231,200 over 4y, 22% of budgetEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $200,416 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO: $180,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREENER BY DEFAULT: $154,657 over 1y, 14% of budgetFOOD FOR CLIMATE LEAGUE: $100,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetFood Empowerment Project: $41,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetCALVIN UNIVERSITY: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNew Roots Institute: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetInfact DBA Corporate Accountability: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetA Well-Fed World: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Quinn FoundationThe Greenbaum Foundat…Vegfund IncImpactassetsincAnimal Charity Evalua…Builders Vision Found…The Chicago Community…Vanguard Charitable E…Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…
The Quinn FoundationKS19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Quinn Foundation · The Greenbaum Foundation · Vegfund Inc · Impactassetsinc · Animal Charity Evaluators · Builders Vision Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Better Food Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Better Food Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Infact Dba Corporate Accountability: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Better Food Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Better Food Foundation Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 16 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home