Food Empowerment Project

What it reported doing in 2024

VeganismWe began 2024 with our "Why Compassion?" project, a series of videos in which vegans of various ages and backgrounds share why compassion for animals is their principal motivation for going and staying vegan. We conducted our second-annual Youth ScholarshipContest, for creative youths aged 11 to 24 who have a passion for compassion to win $300 to $500 by using their writing or illustrating talent to advocate for ethical veganism and help create a kinder world. Fox 56 News did a segment on it.F. E. P. organized a free webinar, "Embodiment of Injustice: The Dairy Industry, which provided an eye-opening look at injustices that are embedded in the dairy industry. The event featured guest speakersincluding a dairy workerand videos, through which attendees gained a deeper understanding of their food choices and how they can stand up against the dairy industry. A post-event survey showed that people loved the webinar. One attendee wrote: An incredibly eye-opening and compassionate seminar, providing different but important perspectives about the dairy industry and its cultural impact on vulnerable communities. Other responses included: Motivating and validating, Revolutionary, and Very informative and full of resources that we can share with others. In fact, 100 percent of attendeeswho werent all vegansaid the seminar made them interested in learning more about veganism.We asked our California supporters to call out the greenwashing being carried out by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), one of the biggest utility companies in the state. PG&E wants its own customers to fund the cost overruns on construction of biodigesters in Merced County, a project that has exceeded its budget by more than $8 million. F. E. P. submitted comments to PG&E with the assistance of a climate scientist; we asked people to leave a public comment and inform the company that not only should these costs be covered by the developers and not community members, but this project will intensify the suffering of cows already exploited in the dairy industry.We launched our latest culinary website, VeganSoulFood.org, which targets a large audience with a wide range of recipes from throughout the African diaspora. It includes more than 25 vegan recipes celebrating rich flavors and showing people they dont have to sacrifice their favorite foods to go and stay vegan. F. E. P. was able to produce videos to attract appropriate vegan recipes. When launched the site has received more than 1,566 pageviews in two months, and notable media coverage.We put up an anti-dairy billboard near the University of California, Los Angeles, directing people to our website GotColonization.com, where they can learn about the industrys impact on animals, human health, workers, and the environment. Vegan Chinese Food was beautifully printed as a 48 full-color recipe guide.Eating Vegan in College page, created as ideal not only for vegan students who want to stay vegan, but for those who go vegan in college, as well as students who want to go vegan once they leave home for college but arent sure how. It helps them navigate everything from accessibility challenges to cooking in dorm rooms.We created a Vegan Holiday Recipes page that was promoted for both vegans and nonvegans to share. We also developed a Vegan Hacks page for vegans and the veg-curious, which explains how to transform whole-foods ingredients into meat and dairy alternatives.We created YouTube video ads highlighting two of our resources: the Vegan Mexican Food (VMF) and Vegan Filipino Food (VFF) websites and their accompanying recipes guides. These eye-catching ads got excellent engagement, with VMF receiving more than 30,000 views and 14,000 clicks to the website and VFF getting more than 2,000 views and 1,100 clicks. In other words, about half of the people who saw the ads demonstrated interest in them.Team members at F.E.P. did various speaking and tabling events in California, Kentucky, and North Carolina and England as

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 90%; rating input score 90
• Program expense ratio: 68.3%; rating input score 68
• Fundraising efficiency: $12.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th 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: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -31.6%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.45; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 19% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings