Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Food Research & Action Center
Food Research & Action Center (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $37,702,622 to it, the largest being WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC ($6,000,000). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 78
- Grants received
- $38M
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Food Research & Action Center does
Mission
We improve the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the united states through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Early childhood nutrition: through research, public policy advocacy technical assistance, training and distribution of materials to local, state and national organizations, frac works to reduce hunger, improve nutrition and thereby improve the food security, economic security, health, development, school readiness and well-being of infants and preschoolers.
$5,506,790 spentof which $4,034,087 as grants$35,000 earned by the program43% of program spendingChild nutrition: frac seeks to reduce childhood hunger, improve nutrition, improve food security and economic security, improve health and school achievement, and use child nutrition programs to support services for school aged children in communities across the country. Frac works with local, state, national groups and public agencies to assure that as many eligible children as possible are enrolled in programs such as school breakfast, school lunch, the summer food program and after school nutrition programs, and that the food served is as nutritious as possible. Frac provides research, public policy advocacy, analysis, training, technical assistance, materials and regranting.
$2,014,011 spentof which $870,667 as grants$12,615 earned by the program16% of program spendingSnap (formerly known as food stamps): frac works with national, state, and local groups to protect and improve snap (formerly food stamps) benefits for people with low incomes. Through research, public policy advocacy, training, technical assistance, regranting and dissemination of information, analysis, and descriptions of model approaches, frac assists in getting snap to eligible families with children, immigrants, older adults, unemployed persons and other people struggling to make ends meet.
$808,822 spentof which $35,000 as grants$5,965 earned by the program6% of program spendingAll other programs: legislative, root causes and specific populations, d.c. Hunger solutions, maryland hunger solutions, communications, network engagement
$4,533,961 spentof which $35,000 as grants$748,400 earned by the program35% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,863,584.
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 $4.9M to $11M (+123%).
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 2% · 2020 1% · 2021 7% · 2022 26% · 2023 37% · 2024 69%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of Food Research & Action Center’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 25 funders, grant income fell $2.9M → $2.0M.
16 of 78 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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: $800k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest FRAC Action Council). These are real filings, and they are not money Food Research & Action Center raised.
From the IRS filings of Food Research & Action Center’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 78 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 Research & Action Center has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
40% 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 Research & Action Center.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 42% · 2019 41% · 2020 36% · 2021 51% · 2022 32% · 2023 34% — 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.
How long its funders stay
39% of Food Research & Action Center's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
Food Research & Action Center draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 Research & Action Center has grown faster than half of the 268 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 268 food & nutrition nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding Food Research & Action Center receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $46.6M on record — $46.0M federal, $556k state.
- Department of Agriculture$46.0M
- MD$554k
- FL$2k
- VT$400
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 Research & Action Center
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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 8 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Frac Action Council · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Food Research & Action Center: 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 Research & Action Center?
- Food Research & Action Center (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $37,702,622 to it, the largest being WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC ($6,000,000). 41 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Food Research & Action Center have?
- IRS filings report 78 organizations giving $37,702,622 in grants to Food Research & Action Center, 41 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Food Research & Action Center?
- WELLSPRING PHILANTHROPIC FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $6,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Food Research & Action Center 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 78 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