Fair Food Network Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 264143394
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Detroit, MI, USA
- Phone
- 7342133999
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $13,792,348
- Expenses
- $13,939,452
- Assets
- $18,002,438
- Liabilities
- $5,306,272
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KATHERINE KRAUSS (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- KATHERINE KRAUSS (CEO): $244,164 total reported compensation
- HOLLY PARKER (CHIEF STRATEGY & PROGRAM OFFICER): $205,066 total reported compensation
- CASSANDRA FLETCHER-MARTIN (VP OF FINANCE): $172,471 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Fair food network is organized to grow community health, wealth, and resilience through food, to increase access to affordable healthy food, help local food economies thrive and build resilience in local food and agriculture systems.
What it reported doing in 2024
The double up food bucks (dufb)program encourages snap (food payment assistance) recipients to purchase healthy, fresh produce by matching their snap expenditures up to $20 with tokens that can be redeemed to purchase additional locally grown produce. The program, which launched in 2009, uses a model that is centrally organized but locally implemented. It is now operational in farmers markets and grocery stores across Michigan.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 71% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 42% for direct work, and 58% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.4%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $36.21 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 96.1%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 88.4% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $12.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $244K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 36 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 147 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 144 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D revenue reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.