Virginia · Nonprofit
MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA
MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA (Virginia) receives grants from 302 organizations whose IRS filings report $72,816,127 to it, the largest being THDF II Inc DBA The Home Depot Foundation & Homer Fund ($15,106,325). 116 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $48M
- Funders on record
- 302
- Grants received
- $73M
- Net assets
- $55M
What Meals on Wheels America does
Mission
To empower local community programs to improve the health and quality of life of the seniors they serve so that no one is left hungry or isolated.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Meals on Wheels America strategy and impact team provides thought leadership, research and data, innovative programming and tools, and grant opportunities to aid community-based senior nutrition providers - our members - in extending their reach and impact. The team leverages best practices and evidence-informed programming to expand the capacity of local providers to serve more seniors and to serve them in increasingly effective ways. The work also includes efforts to further integrate meals on wheels services into health care and prepare local providers to enter their own health care contracting work.in 2025, Meals on Wheels America was able to continue its capacity-building efforts by driving resources, especially funding, to members. Our funding supported capacity building broadly and specific grants for meeting unmet needs of clients, expanding availability of medically tailored meals suited to the needs of older adults with chronic conditions, increasing availability of social connection opportunities to reduce isolation among high-risk older adults and support the human-animal bond, supporting in-home safety through major and minor home repairs, and supporting relief…
$10,545,204 spentof which $5,567,913 as grants$417,888 earned by the program53% of program spendingThe marketing and communications team at Meals on Wheels America plays a vital role in raising national awareness of the growing and often overlooked crises of senior hunger and isolation. By elevating the visibility and demonstrating the impact of meals on wheels, the team helps drive broader awareness and recognition of senior hunger and isolation and the essential services our network provides to vulnerable older adults.to achieve this, the team strategically strengthens and amplifies the meals on wheels brand nationwide through a combination of campaigns as part of the end the wait platform, thought leadership, strategic use of our owned platforms across email, website and social, targeted paid and donated media, and working with celebrity ambassadors to amplify our mission and reach new audiences. These efforts are designed to inspire action from individuals, organizations, and policymakers to ensure that no senior is forgotten.in addition to public-facing campaigns, the team provides essential communications support to the organization's strategy and impact, member services, and advocacy efforts. This work ensures that our national network remains informed, engaged, equipped…
$5,776,483 spent29% of program spendingThe Meals on Wheels America membership and advocacy teams provide direct support to our membership of community-based meals on wheels providers in a variety of ways. This includes federal and grassroots advocacy, education, training and networking opportunities, as well as ensuring members are aware of and engaged in all the program and capacity-building resources and support we provide.the membership team recruits and retains members, ensures members are actively engaged in our initiatives and offerings, and provides relevant information, learning and networking opportunities designed to strengthen and support the network. Additionally, they work across the Meals on Wheels America organization to ensure all member engagement efforts are coordinated, strategic and timely. Learning and development offerings range from virtual webinars, symposiums and networking opportunities, access to a peer-to-peer online forum, and the four-day annual gathering of senior nutrition professionals each august.the advocacy team responds to the needs of our membership and the seniors they serve to set annual federal policy priorities, create information and resources to support member advocacy…
$3,592,101 spentof which $91,000 as grants$1,934,929 earned by the program18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $19,913,788.
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 $13M to $39M (+203%).
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 4% · 2018 3% · 2019 4% · 2020 1% · 2021 5% · 2022 4% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 3 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
Ellen Hollander
President and CEO
Board chair
Luann Oatman
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 77 funders, grant income rose $2.2M → $4.8M.
42 of 302 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 302 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
MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
85% 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 MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 71% · 2019 69% · 2020 48% · 2021 30% · 2022 29% · 2023 29% — 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
24% of MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% 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
MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 39 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $19M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 201 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 201 food & nutrition nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.4M on record — $1.4M federal, $40k state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.4M
- DEDICATED$39k
- FEDERAL$900
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 MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 40 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA: 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 MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA?
- MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA (Virginia) receives grants from 302 organizations whose IRS filings report $72,816,127 to it, the largest being THDF II Inc DBA The Home Depot Foundation & Homer Fund ($15,106,325). 116 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA have?
- IRS filings report 302 organizations giving $72,816,127 in grants to MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA, 116 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA?
- THDF II Inc DBA The Home Depot Foundation & Homer Fund is the largest funder on record, with $15,106,325 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MEALS ON WHEELS AMERICA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 302 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