California · Nonprofit
FOOD FORWARD INC
FOOD FORWARD INC (California) receives grants from 175 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,231,372 to it, the largest being DIANE AND DOROTHY BROOKS FOUNDATION ($2,200,000). 106 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $195M
- Funders on record
- 175
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Food Forward Inc does
Mission
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.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Food forward's large-scale wholesale recovery program recovers surplus fruits and vegetables donated by the produce industry at its produce pit stop warehouse. Retailers, shippers, packers, and others with large quantities of fresh produce donate their surplus by the pallet and truckload. This fresh food is distributed to communities free of charge by hunger relief partner organizations across the region.
$186,998,754 spentof which $183,303,099 as grants$154,924 earned by the program98% of program spendingThrough its volunteer-powered community programs, food forward organizes thousands of dedicated volunteers annually to participate in harvests and gleans that fight hunger and reduce food waste. The flagship backyard harvest program provides fruit to partner organizations from harvests led by volunteers on hundreds of backyards, orchards, and other fruit tree properties. The farmers market recovery program is a market-endorsed donation system for farmers and vendors wanting to help fight hunger with their unsold produce; volunteers glean at the end of the markets and distribute to local hunger relief partners.
$3,456,703 spentof which $2,022,831 as grants2% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $190,455,457.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.9M to $8.8M (+369%).
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 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of FOOD FORWARD INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 0 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
Richard Nahmias
Founder/CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 26 funders to 60 funders, grant income rose $702k → $2.7M.
22 of 175 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 FORWARD INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 175 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 FORWARD INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 9% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left
46% 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 FORWARD INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 23% · 2019 24% · 2020 19% · 2021 26% · 2022 30% · 2023 19% — 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 FOOD FORWARD INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
80% of FOOD FORWARD INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.0M 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 FORWARD INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 42 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 42 food & nutrition nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Organizations like FOOD FORWARD 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 FORWARD 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 FORWARD INC?
- FOOD FORWARD INC (California) receives grants from 175 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,231,372 to it, the largest being DIANE AND DOROTHY BROOKS FOUNDATION ($2,200,000). 106 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOOD FORWARD INC have?
- IRS filings report 175 organizations giving $24,231,372 in grants to FOOD FORWARD INC, 106 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOOD FORWARD INC?
- DIANE AND DOROTHY BROOKS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOOD FORWARD INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 175 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