Eat Real Certified Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454482654
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2013
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
6503907075
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public, Society Benefit N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,663,845
Expenses
$3,888,491
Assets
$2,997,339
Liabilities
$173,576

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nora LaTorre (CEO)
  • Andrew Dietz (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Nora LaTorre (CEO): $382,637 total reported compensation
  • Natalie Linden (Chief of Staff): $250,264 total reported compensation
  • Mattea Kelly (Dir. of Marketing): $149,016 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 empower food service programs and school districts to make food delicious, nourishing, and responsible through our evidence-based certification program. We provide education and support that inspires students, schools, and communities to value real food.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Eat Real well exceeded all identified goals for the organization. We achieved our Mission to 1 Million, expanding our K12 certification program to reach 1 million children across 21 states, effectively doubling our lifetime impact in a single school year. We released Version 4.0 of our nutrition Standards, reflecting the latest research and evidence, and built a proprietary assessment data system to enable nationwide expansion, increasing certification capacity by over 500% and reducing assessment costs by 15%. On the marketing side, we doubled our brand impressions to over 3 million in 2025, sharpening awareness in key states to lay the groundwork for program expansion. A 25% jump in subscriber audience further strengthened the base we draw on for fundraising and advocacy. And we collaborated with ecosystem partners to successfully support Californias AB 1264, the first bill in the nation to create a legal definition of ultra-processed foods and ban the most harmful of them from the states public schools.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.5%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 69.9%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 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: -6.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.7% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 36% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.5% of revenue deployed · 69.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $383K · 17 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $109K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.