Community Kitchens Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851244770
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5104098582
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,937,572
Expenses
$1,886,669
Assets
$851,215
Liabilities
$570,990

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Maria Alderete (Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder)
  • Richard Mitchell (Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder)

Highest reported compensation

  • Maria Alderete (Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder): $125,000 total reported compensation
  • Richard Mitchell (Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder): $79,167 total reported compensation
  • Nigel Jones (Board Member): $1,384 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are a food justice organization that prioritizes dignity, access and connection with our community meal program.Our community meal program supports our door front outreach, community based partner meal distribution programs and youth programs with Oakland Unified School District and Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025 our Community Meal Program showed up for our clients who are often missed by traditional food systems. In 2025 we served 200,813 meals along with 175,154 pounds of groceries supporting over 2,500 unhoused and low-income families and reached over 16,000 students, nearly half of all Oakland Unified School District's kids. The growth in meal volumes was supported through our new door front distribution program at our central kitchen, serving 81,828 meals with groceries to 1,000 clients in one of the top zip codes in Alameda County that is impacted by SNAP cuts. These numbers represent quadrupled growth of impact from 2024, which reflects an increase in the number of community members experiencing food insecurity in the Bay Area, as well as the impact of federal cuts to SNAP and EBT benefits. Our clients include some of the county's most marginalized residents including the unhoused population, youth attending Title 1 schools, the elderly and individuals living below the poverty line. Our meals are distributed in 10 of the highest food insecurity areas in the Bay Area.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 74.9%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.67; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73% of revenue deployed · 74.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $125K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.