Missouri · Nonprofit
OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC
OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC (Missouri) receives grants from 208 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,623,573 to it, the largest being The Skip Viragh Foundation Inc ($1,100,000). 130 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $44M
- Funders on record
- 208
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $27M
What Operation Food Search Inc does
Mission
To heal hunger with innovative and collaborative solutions that provide food today and help create a hunger-free tomorrow.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Founded in 1981, operation food search (ofs) is a hunger relief organization that provides free food, nutrition education and innovative programs proven to reduce food insecurity. With a strategic focus aimed at ending childhood hunger, ofs empowers families and increases access to healthy and affordable food. The agency provides food and services to nearly 200,000 individuals on a monthly basis - one-third of whom are children - through a network of more than 600 community partners in 25 missouri and illinois counties.
$33,070,987 spentof which $32,532,069 as grants87% of program spendingThe out of school meals program ensures that children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. Ofs distributed more than 800,000 meals through our out of school meals programs. Our summer meals program provides thousands of children with meals through sites throughout the st. Louis region during the summer months. Our afterschool refuel provides children with a meal after the bell rings, either at school or at partner locations such as libraries. These meals provide the fuel needed for children to be successful for the remainder of the day. Operation backpack provides weekly sacks of kid-friendly food to help students get through the weekend when school meals are not available.
$1,811,056 spent5% of program spendingMetromarket is a mobile grocery store that travels to areas with limited access to fresh, healthy food. Metromarket's innovative approach uses a customer model to empower the community to shop at significantly lower prices than retail grocers. Fresh, affordable produce has been carefully selected from local farm partners and is brought directly to partner sites in the community. As a part of the organization's family, metromarket is growing its programming, including recipe tastings, nutrition education and other community nutrition offerings. Ofs served nearly 39,000 individuals at 388 markets.
$978,461 spent$250,033 earned by the program3% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$2,050,242 spent$11,600 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $37,910,746.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $21M to $34M (+59%).
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: 2019 1% · 2020 5% · 2021 6% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 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
Kristen Wild
President & CEO
Board chair
Laura Bryant
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 49 funders to 82 funders, grant income fell $1.5M → $1.4M.
25 of 208 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: $111k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Operation Food Search Support Organization Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC raised.
From the IRS filings of OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 208 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
OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 7% of grant income, and it takes 12 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 12 funders to its left
44% 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 OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 36% · 2019 20% · 2020 24% · 2021 9% · 2022 11% · 2023 11% — 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
48% of OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
56% of OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC 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 OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $884k on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$850k
- Department of Agriculture$34k
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 OPERATION FOOD SEARCH 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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
55%
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
- Operation Food Search Support Organization Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPERATION FOOD SEARCH 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 OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC?
- OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC (Missouri) receives grants from 208 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,623,573 to it, the largest being The Skip Viragh Foundation Inc ($1,100,000). 130 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC have?
- IRS filings report 208 organizations giving $16,623,573 in grants to OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC, 130 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC?
- The Skip Viragh Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $1,100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 208 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