California Food Banks™

What it reported doing in 2024

Research & public policycafb research and public policy work leads the fight to eradicate food insecurity in California by researching hunger in its communities, advancing legislative and budget initiatives, and conducting administrative advocacy at the state and federal levels to strengthen charitable nutrition safety nets.in 2024, our advocacy & policy team advocated for robust investments in food banks and public benefit adequacy improvements. Specifically, the (continued on schedule o)organization worked to increase state baseline funding for the calfood program which enables food banks to purchase California grown and manufactured foods, protecting funding for a calfresh minimum nutrition benefit pilot program to raise the calfresh monthly benefit to $60 from the current minimum of $23, and worked with the state to ensure robust implementation for the new sunbucks, summer lunch program.cafb research and strategic initiatives continued its work to deepen our understanding of food insecurity in California, including convening a community advisory board to inform the organization on barriers to accessing charitable food. We also released a mixed-methods report on the impact of emergency allotments in California, and an updated analysis and dashboard on the expansion of calfresh benefits to ssi recipients. In addition, the department continued to provide relevant time-sensitive research and data through several new dashboards to track economic indicators in California related to food security, and a suite of resources to inform the expansion of medically supportive food and nutrition programs among member food banks..

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 98.8%; rating input score 99
• Fundraising efficiency: $50.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 21st percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 97.6%; rating input score 98; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -1.7%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 16.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings