Chefs for Impact Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851963684
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Short Hills, NJ, USA
Phone
9146023386
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nutrition

Reported finances

Revenue
$360,569
Expenses
$376,325
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • THEODORA FONTAS (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $86,900 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit educating the public on the environmental and personal impacts of sustainable eating. Collaborating with chefs and farmers, our team empowers people and connects communities to make sustainable food decisions through our events, community programming, and media.

What it reported doing in 2024

Chefs for kids - chefs for kids is our youth program aimed at educating nyc students on food sustainability, nutrition, agriculture, and culinary skills. Through weekly after-school classes, we bring our chef educators to community centers and schools and teach 1-1.5 hour classes focused on teaching students all about food from seed to plate. In addition to in-classroom lessons, we instruct our students in our community gardens as well. In 2022 we began 2 community gardens to complement our standard youth classes. Our students learn about seasonality, heirloom varieties of seeds, what composting is and how to do it, the importance of pollinators, how food grows, how to harvest it, and of course how to cook it, amongst a variety of other food topics.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.3%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.4%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 26.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -91.8% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.3% of revenue deployed · 86% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $324K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $87K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.