Skip to content
The DC Central Kitchen Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The DC Central Kitchen Inc

We use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities.

$911k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Food & Nutrition$728kPhilanthropy$145kEducation$82kRecreation & Sports$38k
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $422,382, the rows itemized in this filing. The $910,751 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $488,369 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 · FY2025

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $90k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $332k
$25,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$43M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DREAMING OUT LOUD$125,000
DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION$125,000
DC FOOD PROJECT$82,382
HOUSE OF RUTH$25,000
GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$25,000
MY SENIORS KEEPER FOUNDATION$20,000
SUITED FOR CHANGE$20,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION: $125k → 17%DREAMING OUT LOUD: $125k → 14%FOOD RESCUE IS: $10k → 9%DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%GOOD PROJECTS INC: $10k → 14%FOOD RESCUE IS: $10k → 9%DREAMING OUT LOUD: $72k → 14%PLAYWORKS: $38k → 14%AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $46k → 14%DREAMING OUT LOUD: $22k → 14%HOUSE OF RUTH: $25k → 14%AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $18k → 14%DREAMING OUT LOUD: $10k → 14%GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $18k → 14%CAMPUS KITCHENS PROJECT: $200k → 14%WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: $25k → 14%MY SENIORS KEEPER FOUNDATION: $20k → 14%SUITED FOR CHANGE: $20k → 14%DC FOOD PROJECT: $82k → 14%DC FOOD PROJECT: $18k → 14%DC FOOD PROJECT: $15k → 14%DC FOOD PROJECT: $11k → 14%DC FOOD PROJECT: $10k → 14%CASA RUBY: $10k → 14%SANCTUARY DMV: $7k → 14%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.
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.

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$613k · 5 repeat orgs$355k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +51% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
6

Total granted

$613k
$290k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
0%

Still filing today

100%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $65k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Youth DevelopmentFood & NutritionPhilanthropyEducationInternationalHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • DO
    DREAMING OUT LOUD INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $229k · revenue +210%
  • DF
    Dc Food Project
    5× · 2021–2025 · $137k · revenue +51%
  • AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2017–2019 · $82k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • TC
    THE CAMPUS KITCHEN PROJECT INC
    one grant, 2017 · $200k · revenue -99%
  • PE
    PLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED
    one grant, 2018 · $38k · revenue -22%
  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +167%
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
The Dc Central Kitchen Inc

We use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. dcck prepares people facing high barriers to employment for culinary careers, and creates jobs for our graduates through innovative programs that expand…

—
2
Common Good City Farm

Common Good City Farm is an urban farm in Washington, DC, where community members source fresh food, see sustainable urban agriculture in action, and learn healthy skills. Our mission is to sustain and support a more equitable community…

Food & Nutrition
3
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
4
Cityworks Dc

Our mission is to dramatically improve the early career outcomes of dc youth and young adults of color by creating innovative programs and by mobilizing employers, educators, and city leaders to create a local, diverse talent pipeline. our…

Education
5
Women First Inc

Women first invests in grassroots initiatives driven by women in developing economies that sustainably advance their lives.

International
6
Freshfarm Markets

Freshfarm is a washington, dc-based nonprofit that builds a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system in the mid-atlantic region by producing innovative solutions in partnership with local communities and organizations. we…

Food & Nutrition
7
The Global Hunger Project

The hunger project is working to create a world without hunger through women-centered, holistic development strategies that address the root causes of hunger and poverty. in 2025, it reached nearly 12.7 million people in over 10,000…

International
8
Washington Area Community Investment Fund Inc

The washington area community investment fund (wacif) is a nonprofit community loan fund focused on increasing equity and economic opportunity in the washington, dc area's underserved communities. wacif's mission is driven by three…

—
9
International Center for Research On Women

The international center for research for women (icrw) is a global research institute, with a mission to advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and structurally excluded populations with actionable evidence and solutions.

International
10
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
11
Washington Dc Meals on Wheels Inc

We deliver healthy delicious meals to our home-bound neighbors. With a vision of creating a more interconnected resilient and compassionate community our program supports entire family systems. In 2024 236 volunteers delivered 55,642 meals…

—
12
Womens Funding Network

Our mission as a global alliance is to provide strategies, research, and resources that support the critical agency and influence of women's foundations and gender justice funders in the movement for equality, justice, and power for all.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Washington Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is American University. 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

14 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. 14 of the 15 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/14
Grantees still filing
8/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DREAMING OUT LOUD INC: $229,300 · Youth DevelopmentDREAMING OUT LOUD INCPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED: $38,004 · Youth DevelopmentPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZEDTHE CAMPUS KITCHEN PROJECT INC: $200,000 · OtherTHE CAMPUS KITCHEN PROJECT …MY SENIORS KEEPER FOUNDATION: $20,000 · OtherMY SENIORS KEEPER FOUNDATIO…CASA RUBY INC: $10,000 · Other+1 more: $6,671 · OtherDAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS -BASED EDUCATION AND WORLD PEACE: $145,000 · PhilanthropyDAVID LYNCH FOUNDATI…GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER WASHINGTON C…GOOD PROJECTS INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropyGOOD PROJECTS INCDc Food Project: $136,586 · Food & NutritionDc Food ProjectFOOD RESCUE US INC: $20,000 · Food & NutritionFOOD RESCUE US IN…AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $81,891 · EducationAMERICAN …HOUSE OF RUTH: $25,000 · Housing & ShelterWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $25,000 · InternationalSUITED FOR CHANGE: $20,000 · Employment
Youth Development$267,304Other$236,671Philanthropy$180,000Food & Nutrition$156,586Education$81,891Housing & Shelter$25,000International$25,000Employment$20,000

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 budgetDREAMING OUT LOUD INC: $229,300 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetTHE CAMPUS KITCHEN PROJECT INC: $200,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetDAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS -BASED EDUCATION AND WORLD PEACE: $145,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetDc Food Project: $136,586 over 5y, 24% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $81,891 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYWORKS EDUCATION ENERGIZED: $38,004 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSE OF RUTH: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD RESCUE US INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD PROJECTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCASA RUBY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Morgan Stanley Global…Network for GoodVanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN9.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Network for Good · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 The DC Central Kitchen Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The DC Central Kitchen Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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.

    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 15 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on DC Central Kitchen’s filings →

    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