Delaware · Nonprofit
DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION
DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION (Delaware) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $113,481 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($46,950). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $742k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $113k
- Net assets
- $385k
What Delaware Restaurant Foundation does
Mission
The Delaware Restaurant Foundation improves the restaurant and hospitality industry through education. It serves the current and future hospitality workforce by developing curriculum and educational programs to strengthen both current industry workers and helps to develop the skills and opportunities for the next generation of hospitality leaders.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Prostart program - this comprehensive, career-building program blends industry-driven classroom learning with mentored work experience. Giving a "professional start" to students that may not have been interested in traditional career paths. It focuses on youth and workforce development in the foodservice industry. There are both a state and national prostart competition at which teams face off in management and culinary competitions with winners receiving honors and scholarships in 2024, there were about 6,000 participants.
$277,187 spentof which $54,174 as grants$66,256 earned by the program69% of program spendingFood safety and handling training - delaware requires the person-in-charge at a restaurant to demonstrate food safety knowledge. The organization offers the servsafe certification course to meet this requirement in partnership with its related organization, the delaware restauarant association. In 2024, there were 839 attendees.
$125,676 spent$36,211 earned by the program31% of program spendingStudent training - the organization has a focus on informing and inspiring delaware's youth on the opportunities awaiting in the foodservice industry. The "steps to success" conference is designed for future leaders in the industry. The event was cancelled in 2021 due to covid restrictions and has not restarted as of 2024.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $402,863.
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 2021 to 2022, from $178k to $289k (+62%).
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: 2018 20% · 2019 41% · 2020 8% · 2021 37% · 2022 21% · 2023 31% · 2024 53%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Carrie Leishman
President & CEO
Board chair
Javier Acuna
Chairman of the board
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $25k → $16.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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: $212k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
69% 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 DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 53% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
69% of DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $36k that is directly attributable, 70% of it comes from Delaware funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $78k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,975 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,975 food & nutrition nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION
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 Delaware
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Delaware Restaurant Association · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION: 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 DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION?
- DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION (Delaware) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $113,481 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($46,950). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $113,481 in grants to DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $46,950 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DELAWARE RESTAURANT FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 7 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