California · Nonprofit
FRESH APPROACH
FRESH APPROACH (California) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,595,375 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,145,850). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 44
- Grants received
- $7.6M
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Fresh Approach does
Mission
The mission of Fresh Approach is to create long-term change in local food systems by connecting california communities with healthy food from california farmers and expanding knowledge about food and nutrition.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Fresh Approach works to increase the accessibility of healthy food options through food access programs: the mobile farmers' market is a farmers' market on wheels that increases access to fresh and local produce in sf bay area neighborhoods, the east palo alto community farmers' market, matching nutrition incentives at the righmond certified farmers' market, and farms together, which helps create purchasing relationships between small and mid-size family farmers and local institutions such as food banks and schools.
$912,154 spentof which $89,840 as grants40% of program spendingEducation programs include the veggierx food as medicine workshops and the east palo alto community garden program. The veggierx program began in 2011, reaching nearly 12,000 bay area residents and distributing over $500,000 in "prescription" vouchers for participants to spend on fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets. In 2024, Fresh Approach offered veggierx workshops and vouchers in four counties (alameda, contra costa, san mateo, and santa clara) in partnership with healthcare providers and community-based organizations. In the east palo alto community, the east palo alto community garden is a key resource offering urban agriculture initiatives.
$640,549 spent28% of program spendingFresh Approach is committed to strengthening community engagement, volunteering, and leadership opportunities. Through the community ambassador project, 28 residents were enrolled in 2024 to support programs by helping with customer service at the farmers' markets, helping to manage the compost hub, and facilitating group discussions and workshops.
$25,730 spent1% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$720,212 spent31% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,298,645.
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 $1.7M to $2.1M (+28%).
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 12% · 2018 16% · 2019 21% · 2020 3% · 2021 34% · 2022 36% · 2024 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
44% of FRESH APPROACH’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (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
Laura De Tar
Executive director
Board chair
Mckinley Baker
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $357k → $1.2M.
13 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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: $57k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association). These are real filings, and they are not money FRESH APPROACH raised.
From the IRS filings of FRESH APPROACH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 44 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
FRESH APPROACH has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
64% 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 FRESH APPROACH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 38% · 2019 28% · 2020 22% · 2021 26% · 2022 30% · 2023 20% — 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
59% of FRESH APPROACH'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
93% of FRESH APPROACH's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
FRESH APPROACH runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,130 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,130 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FRESH APPROACH receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.1M on record — $3.1M federal, $767 state.
- Department of Agriculture$3.1M
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $767
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 FRESH APPROACH
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRESH APPROACH: 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 FRESH APPROACH?
- FRESH APPROACH (California) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,595,375 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,145,850). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRESH APPROACH have?
- IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $7,595,375 in grants to FRESH APPROACH, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRESH APPROACH?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,145,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRESH APPROACH 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 44 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