Historic Lewes Farmers Market Society Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

Food pantry purchase program: this program benefits both local small family farms and low-income local residents. The market provides funds to pay the small farmers in the market to supply fresh local food which is donated to a large, local food pantry run by the epworth united methodist church in rehoboth beach, Delaware. Both the farmers and those without access to fresh local produce, dairy, and meat, benefit. In 2025, the hlfm procured 23,992 worth of food for the epworth food pantry through this program at the saturday market, including directly purchasing 14,150 of fresh local food from farmers, and thanks to a 10,000 grant from the carl m. Freeman foundation. Farm to community program: in 2023, the historic lewes farmers market was chosen as the sussex county partner by the Delaware department of agriculture in the local food purchase assistance cooperative agreement program called farm to community. As the sussex county project partner in this two-year pilot program, the historic lewes farmers market received a subaward of 420,000 to procure, aggregate, and distribute produce, meat, eggs, and dairy from Delaware small farmers and other local sources to food pantries across sussex county. Small farmers in Delaware typically have limited capital and resources, limited acreage, capacity, and production volume to compete in mainstream market outlets, limited marketing, and promotional resources to maintain a consistent customer base. Meanwhile, small farmers produce a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and other food products each harvest season that they sell at local farmers markets and roadside farm stands. This pilot project expands the economic opportunity for small scale farmers to gain entry into additional market outlets and institutions, by developing a cooperative structure focused on marketing and promotion; and initiates a procurement relationship between farmers and distribution outlets serving urban and rural communities in the state. In 2024, the hlfm was awarded an additional 300,000 to expand the program into kent county, de. Unfortunately, this version of the program ended in july 2025 with the termination of federal funding for all projects like this nationwide. However, the historic lewes farmers market received funding from the state of Delaware for an additional year of the farm to community program that will allow for the continuation of fresh food purchases from small family farms for collection for pantries through august of 2026. The hlfm received 112,500 in 2025 for the first tranche of state funds for this program. The hlfm continues managing the procurement, aggregation, and distribution of fresh food from 18 local farmers to supply fresh produce, eggs, dairy, and meats to 18 sussex and kent county food pantries, feeding over 6,000 people in need weekly. In 2025, the total amount of food delivered to those in need was 185,670.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 88.6%; rating input score 89
• Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -4.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 38.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 21.6% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings