Hunger Free Vermont Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

School age initiatives: hunger and food insecurity affect many Vermont families whose household income makes them ineligible for free school meals, and, because of the stigma they face, many students will not use their school meal program even when they are eligible. In addition, when all students participate, school meal programs are more financially sustainable, can afford to purchase more local food, and can serve higher quality meals. Hunger free Vermont has therefore been committed to making school meals a universal and fundamental part of public education at all Vermont schools for many years, both by advocating for changes in federal law and by leading a coalition that introduced the first state-level bill for universal school meals in january 2020. Through a robust, community driven effort, we succeeded in having the state legislature pass a one-year state-funded universal school meals program in june of 2022, and in june of 2023 that program was enacted permanently, making Vermont the 6th state in the country to provide universal school breakfast and lunch as an essential component of an equitable education for every public school student in Vermont, as well as for students at independent schools that opt in to the program. We can now declare success for hunger free Vermont's state universal school meals campaign, although we continue to support the national movement to enact universal school meals at the federal level. In the 2023-2024 school year student participation in school breakfast increased 40%, and school lunch participation increased 29% - all while costing 6.5 million (17%) less than what was originally appropriated. During its implementation across the state, 10,000 more students were accurately identified as low-income (a 35% increase), bringing even more federal and state education funding to school districts. Even better, some 2024 changes in the federal rules for afterschool and summer meal programs coupled with new opportunities created by the passage of Vermont's universal school meals act have newly made twice as many Vermont towns as before eligible to provide free meals at their afterschool and summer programming, dramatically amplifying the impact we are making on ending childhood hunger in our state. Hunger free Vermont also provides free, customized coaching and training for schools, towns, and community organizations in establishing, and expanding participation in, all of the federal child nutrition programs they are eligible to operate. These include school breakfast, school lunch, afterschool meals and snacks, and summer meals. These child nutrition programs provide a reliable source of nutrition for school age children, and also reduce family hunger by reducing the amount of money low-income families must spend to provide food for their children. 2023 saw the passage of act 64, Vermont's permanent state-subsidized universal school meals program covering all public schools and independent schools that opt in. The calendar year 2024 crossed the first three school years when all public schools in Vermont were providing universal school meals. Hunger free Vermont's child nutrition initiatives team provided special technical assistance and materials to support schools in communicating this historic change to families, and tracked significant increases in student participation and local food purchasing by schools. Summer meals expansion: because summer is a particularly vulnerable time for food insecure children and families, and because summer meal programs reach only a fraction of all low-income children who need them, hunger free Vermont devotes considerable staff time and resources to expanding the number of children who have access to a summer meal site for the full ten weeks of summer vacation each year. We do this through direct technical assistance, community organizing through our hunger councils, and a concerted public outreach and advertising campaign. In the summer of 2024 more than

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 90.2%; rating input score 90
• Program expense ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 71
• Fundraising efficiency: $5.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th 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: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -26.4%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings