Food Co-op Initiative

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272252564
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Phone
8443242667
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$696,980
Expenses
$554,642
Assets
$405,291
Liabilities
$97,641

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • FAYE MACK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THRU MARCH))
  • JACQUELINE HANNAH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (BEGAN MARCH))

Highest reported compensation

  • JACQUELINE HANNAH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (BEGAN MARCH)): $130,295 total reported compensation
  • FAYE MACK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THRU MARCH)): $58,786 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Food co-op initiative partners with communities to build a more just food system, providing critical support as they organize and open community-owned grocery stores.

What it reported doing in 2025

Food co-op initiative provided customized education, training, technical assistance, and network building to startup food co-ops, including board development, financial feasibility, site selection, organizing work plans, etc. Food co-op initiative co-hosted the up & coming conference for startup food co-ops. Development specialists from food co-op initiative also presented and facilitated workshops at other events and provided one-on-one support to startup organizers. We continued an annual series of live webinars addressing topical issues for startup organizers called fci live. We had record attendance and the recorded webinars are accessed for free on our youtube channel. Our peer learning groups program continues to serve over 50 startup co-ops facing similar organizing issues who meet monthly to learn and share. These groups have been tremendously successful and keep organizers engaged and informed, leading to better outcomes. The food co-op initiative produced educational tools for co-op organizers in a variety of modes and launched a new co-op development framework to help all startups follow best practices while serving their unique community. We host a web-based "classroom" training program for boards of directors. We collaborate extensively with other development centers. Food co-op initiative provided support to about 100 startups. Six co-ops opened in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% 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. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.2%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $41.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd 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: Limited
  • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 20.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -9.8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.2% of revenue deployed · 81.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $454K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.