Food Lifeline
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 911090450
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Seattle, WA, United States
- Phone
- Toll Free: 1-877-404-7543; Telephone: 206-545-6600
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $156,540,053
- Expenses
- $162,299,778
- Assets
- $30,431,831
- Liabilities
- $11,926,448
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
28 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ROBERT OJEDA (PRESIDENT & CEO END 3/3/25)
- STEPHANIE FRANCES COLE (VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGY AND IMPACT)
Highest reported compensation
- GEOFFREY SCOTT (CDO): $262,037 total reported compensation
- ROBERT OJEDA (PRESIDENT & CEO END 3/3/25): $247,168 total reported compensation
- MEGAN BLADO COOPER (CAO): $240,714 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Food Lifeline’s mission is to feed people experiencing hunger today while working to end hunger for tomorrow. We Believe:. Food Lifeline centers all its actions in the best interest of its ‘owners,’ people facing hunger. We know and understand that hunger is a symptom, a symptom of barriers to basic needs such as housing, education, employment, and healthcare. To solve hunger, we must all come together and address the root causes perpetuating societal inequities in our communities. We can only build the community power necessary to eliminate hunger with one unified voice. Food Lifeline is committed to activating all invested partners to provide access to hearty, nutritious foods today, while at the same time building the collective voice and power needed to change the systems that perpetuate hunger. Read more ab.
What it reported doing in 2024
Feeding people today: food lifeline procures, processes, and distributes food to agency and network partners. As the tefap lead agency for king county, food lifeline works with wsda to feed western Washington. Resources are donated by local governments, corporations, organizations, and community. In fy 25, volunteers contributed over 50,000 hours to support food lifeline.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 92% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 95
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.3%; rating input score 99
- Program expense ratio: 95.8%; rating input score 96
- Fundraising efficiency: $46.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 78.1%; rating input score 78; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: -3.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 99.3% of revenue deployed · 95.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $155.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $262K · 28 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 341 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 321 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 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.