Food Connection Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 814190128
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Asheville, NC, USA
- Phone
- 8284070353
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Food Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,099,456
- Expenses
- $2,700,528
- Assets
- $1,146,379
- Liabilities
- $19,233
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MARISHA MACMORRAN (EXECUTIVE DI): $81,790 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 connection eases food insecurity and reduces waste by redistributing surplus prepared food and connecting it to communities in need.
What it reported doing in 2025
Food rescue and community engagement programs. Food connection recovered surplus prepared food from hotels, restaurants, caterers, hospitals, universities, camps, conference centers, event venues, and other institutional kitchens and moved it rapidly and safely into mobile meals and agency support channels. Staff and trained volunteers coordinated donor communication, temperature control, cold-chain storage, packaging, labeling, pickups, routing, and last-mile delivery. In 2025, food connection tracked 224,864 pounds of food rescued or otherwise diverted from landfill, with edible prepared food prioritized for human consumption and limited non-donatable material directed to other beneficial uses. The community engagement program recruited, trained, scheduled, engaged, and retained volunteers; supported neighborhood, business, and civic participation; and raised awareness about food insecurity and food waste. During the year, 275 volunteers contributed 6,478.5 hours, expanding rescue and distribution capacity and strengthening community ownership of the regional food-access system.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.5%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 89.9%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $62.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd 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; 63rd 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: 12.9%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 20.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 23.4% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 32.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.5% of revenue deployed · 89.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $82K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.