Massachusetts · Nonprofit
FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC
FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,904,688 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($1,513,499). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 117
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Food for Free Committee Inc does
Mission
Food for free improves access to healthy food through establishing innovative programming and partnerships to overcome barriers and strengthen the community food system.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
During the fiscal year ended june 30, 2025, food for free discontinued the healthy eats program and heat-n-eats program due to funding constraints and to align programs with strategic direction. A small portion of heat-n-eats meals produced by partners will continue to be delivered under the umbrella of food rescue.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Food recovery: food for frees food recovery program works with grocery stores, farms, universities and other businesses to collect fresh and prepared food that might otherwise be discarded. This food is then distributed to shelters, churches and food pantries to distribute to their communities. Approximately 1.9m pounds of food was distributed in fy25.
$3,987,391 spent$3,908,342 earned by the program32% of program spendingJust eats: just eats distributes grocery boxes and bulk pallets of assorted produce and dry good to low-income housing sites, food pantries, and community service agencies in the greater boston area. Volunteer groups and food for free staff prepare the boxes and bulk deliveries, bringing over 2.8 million pounds of food to partners each year.
$5,062,114 spent$4,257,082 earned by the program41% of program spendingSchool markets: this program brings farmers market-style markets to 7 public schools across cambridge and somerville. Students and their families can shop for fresh, healthy groceries for free during after shcool pick up times once a month.
$1,751,810 spent$1,575,566 earned by the program14% of program spendingThe transportation partnership: this program offers low-cost food deliveries for small-scale food pantries. Food for free picks up food orders for these organizations from the greater boston food bank and delivers it to their pantry or facility.
$159,214 spent1% of program spendingHeat n eats: heats n eats transforms rescued prepared food into single-serve meals for people with limited access to kitchens. Each frozen meal includes a serving of vegetables, protein and a grain or starch, all designed for microwavable convinience.
$521,323 spent$189,029 earned by the program4% of program spendingCarrot cards: carrot cards support cambridge and somerville school families at risk of hunger with grocery cards each month to ensure the have access to food on weekends when school meals are not served. Carrot cards are distributed to over 1,500 food-insecure students and families across cambridge and somerville.
$403,125 spentof which $250,365 as grants$380,323 earned by the program3% of program spendingHome delivery: healthy eats home delivery serves low-income cambridge seniors and people with disabilities, bringing boxes of groceries right to their doorstep twice a month. The program reaches about 400 clients each month. The healthy eats program ended in december 2025. Other home delivery program(s) in which food for free is a subcontractor are also included in these program financials.
$467,677 spent$352,037 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,352,654.
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 $4.6M to $2.9M (−36%).
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 1% · 2018 2% · 2019 3% · 2020 5% · 2021 3% · 2022 6% · 2023 5% · 2024 9% · 2025 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Jessica Cantin
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $426k → $1.8M.
21 of 117 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 117 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
FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% 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
72% 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 FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 20% · 2019 16% · 2020 27% · 2021 20% · 2022 12% · 2023 28% — 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
55% of FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% 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
58% of FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC'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 $5.4M that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC has grown faster than half of the 191 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 191 food & nutrition nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $375k on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$375k
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 FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE 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 FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC?
- FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,904,688 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($1,513,499). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC have?
- IRS filings report 117 organizations giving $12,904,688 in grants to FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC, 82 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC?
- CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $1,513,499 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOOD FOR FREE COMMITTEE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Food for Free Committee →
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 117 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing