Berkeley Student Food Collective
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 273447117
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Berkeley, CA, United States
- Phone
- 510-845-1985
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nutrition
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $169,358
- Expenses
- $128,323
- Assets
- $70,580
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jeffrey Noven (Secretary, Executive Director)
- Isabel Cabrera (Board Chair and President)
Highest reported compensation
- Jeffrey Noven (Secretary, Executive Director): $66,456 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Providing fresh, local, healthy, environmentally sustainable, and ethically produced food at affordable prices to the Berkeley campus and greater community, while educating students about nutrition and food systems, empowering new leaders, and training youth to work in and manage a sustainable business.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Berkeley Student Food Collective operated a volunteer-run, SNAP-authorized nonprofit grocery storefront in Berkeley's Southside neighborhood, preserving affordable access to healthy, culturally relevant, and regionally sourced staple and perishable foods in a low-income, transit-dependent neighborhood with limited full-service grocery options. During the year, the Collective served thousands of community members through its storefront, with a substantial share of patrons using EBT and SNAP benefits to purchase California-grown produce, prepared foods, and grocery staples. The organization continued sourcing from small, farmer-centered, and local food producers, including Veritable Vegetable and Mandela Partners, helping meet community food access needs while strengthening local food economies.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 64% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.3%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 75.6%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 24.2%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 51.8%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 97.3% of revenue deployed · 75.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $97K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $66K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.