Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE FOOD PROJECT INC
THE FOOD PROJECT INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 198 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,143,136 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,637,770). 119 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 198
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What The Food Project Inc does
Mission
The food project's mission is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Youth leadership and training programs provide opportunities for youth in job readiness training, community service and leadership.
$927,238 spent38% of program spendingFood production and enterprise programs provide education and development for youth through the production and distribution of food and creation of food enterprises.
$1,185,221 spent$175,215 earned by the program48% of program spendingPublic education and outreach programs provide opportunities for youth and the public to work in sustainable agriculture, pollution reduction and to feed the hungry.
$356,977 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,469,436.
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 $4.5M to $3.6M (−20%).
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: 2021 10% · 2022 7% · 2023 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of THE FOOD PROJECT INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Emmanuel Encarnacion
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 52 funders to 77 funders, grant income rose $806k → $2.1M.
21 of 198 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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: $48k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest The Food Project Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE FOOD PROJECT INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE FOOD PROJECT INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 198 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
THE FOOD PROJECT INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
50% 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 THE FOOD PROJECT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 15% · 2018 24% · 2019 25% · 2020 23% · 2021 14% · 2022 14% · 2023 12% — 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
46% of THE FOOD PROJECT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
77% of THE FOOD PROJECT INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.2M 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
THE FOOD PROJECT INC's funding base is broadening — from 52 funders to 77 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 655 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE FOOD PROJECT INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $486k on record — $88k federal, $399k state.
- Department of Agriculture$88k
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$399k
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 THE FOOD PROJECT 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 THE FOOD PROJECT 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 THE FOOD PROJECT INC?
- THE FOOD PROJECT INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 198 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,143,136 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,637,770). 119 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE FOOD PROJECT INC have?
- IRS filings report 198 organizations giving $15,143,136 in grants to THE FOOD PROJECT INC, 119 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FOOD PROJECT INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,637,770 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FOOD PROJECT INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 198 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