Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC
CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 584 organizations whose IRS filings report $123,690,061 to it, the largest being Feeding America ($16,181,112). 343 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $128M
- Funders on record
- 584
- Grants received
- $124M
- Net assets
- $78M
What Capital Area Food Bank Inc does
Mission
The mission of the capital area food bank (the food bank or cafb) is to help our neighbors thrive by creating more equitable access to food and opportunity through community partnerships.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Food for today:cafb works to address hunger today for people across the region experiencing food insecurity. As the anchor in the area's hunger relief infrastructure, cafb supplies food to hundreds of local partner organizations and directly distributes food through a variety of programs. In total, cafb distributed or facilitated the distribution of 72.6 million pounds of food during fiscal year 2025.- food distribution partnerswith help from retail grocers, manufacturers, and local growers, along with our generous supporters, the food bank distributes the food for over 60 million nutritious meals each year through a network of over 400 regional nonprofit organizations. These partners include a range of organizations, including pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and others. For most of these partners, cafb is the primary or sole source of the food they distribute.- direct distribution programswhile most of the food cafb provides reaches our neighbors through our network of partners, sometimes it is necessary for cafb to directly provide food to kids, seniors, and families where they live and learn. These programs reach three major groups:- community at large: cafb operates…
$98,894,184 spentof which $78,825,268 as grants$8,351,356 earned by the program95% of program spendingFood for brighter futures:food alone won't solve hunger. To address the root causes of food insecurity and inequity in the region, the food bank is piloting innovative approaches for pairing food with other critical services, such as health care and education. By expanding beyond cafb's traditional food provider network, the food bank can meet people where they are and provide them with support to help address some of their most pressing concerns. The food bank also operates innovative food access programs to create more ways in which neighbors with transportation or other constraints can get the food they need.- food is medicine (food plus health): these initiatives integrate food into health care settings to promote disease prevention and management, resulting in healthier outcomes at every stage of life. Cafb partners with medical institutions across the region to provide patients facing food insecurity with medically tailored groceries either during their clinic visits or via home delivery.- food for upward mobility (food plus education)through its programs focused on creating greater economic opportunity for those it serves, cafb bundles food and other support services for…
$2,769,686 spentof which $565,427 as grants3% of program spendingThought leadership and community engagement:a. Food insecurity research: cafb regularly partners with research institutions to gather and publish data and information about food insecurity and other issues related to its work. This information is used by the food bank to guide its organizational strategy and programmatic services, and by other regional organizations to inform planning and policy.b. Client leadership council: to amplify the voices of the people it serves, cafb convenes a client leadership council (clc) each year. A cohort of individuals who live in the food bank's service area and who are experiencing food insecurity receive advocacy training through the clc. This 10-month training program supports their growth as advocates for themselves and their communities.c. Policy analysis: the food bank's policy team stays apprised of local, state, and national policy issues that have the potential to impact the individuals served by the food bank, and makes recommendations on policy positions based on what will ultimately improve the lives of the food bank's clients.
$1,774,217 spentof which $903 as grants2% of program spendingNutrition education:in addition to food distributions, cafb also operates a variety of nutrition education and urban agriculture programs.- cooking and nutrition classesto support the people it serves with improving or maintaining their health and well-being, cafb's team of registered dietitians regularly hold nutrition education classes for its partners and community members. Cafb also develops and distributes nutrition resources, including recipe cards in multiple languages that contain culturally relevant ideas for healthy, low-cost meals that use ingredients commonly provided by the food bank.- urban gardenthe food bank's half-acre urban demonstration garden offers an outdoor "learning laboratory" where school children and community members can learn how to grow good, nutritious food with just a small piece of land. Located at the food bank's northeast dc facility, the space features raised beds and fruit trees, and is home to an outdoor teaching kitchen where cafb holds classes on nutrition, cooking, and gardening.
$547,552 spentof which $4,724 as grants1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $103,985,639.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $70M to $95M (+37%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 6% · 2018 4% · 2019 6% · 2020 6% · 2021 44% · 2022 22% · 2023 18% · 2024 23% · 2025 40%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Radha Muthiah
President & CEO
Board chair
Rahsaan Bernard
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 76 funders to 231 funders, grant income rose $2.3M → $18M.
60 of 584 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $14M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Capital Area Food Bank Foundation); $3.5M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Goldberg Family Foundation 217-48576810). These are real filings, and they are not money CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC raised.
From the IRS filings of CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 584 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
74% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 61% · 2019 16% · 2020 9% · 2021 19% · 2022 15% · 2023 17% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
43% of CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC draws 93% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 37 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $43M arriving through sponsors registered in 23 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 31 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 31 food & nutrition nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $17.5M on record — $40k federal, $17.4M state.
- Department of Agriculture$40k
- Grant$17.4M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Capital Area Food Bank Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC?
- CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 584 organizations whose IRS filings report $123,690,061 to it, the largest being Feeding America ($16,181,112). 343 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC have?
- IRS filings report 584 organizations giving $123,690,061 in grants to CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC, 343 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC?
- Feeding America is the largest funder on record, with $16,181,112 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 584 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing