Refed

Legal name: Refed Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831579781
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, US
Phone
5129472176
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,222,438
Expenses
$8,630,104
Assets
$15,218,674
Liabilities
$883,667

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANA GUNDERS RIVERO (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANA GUNDERS RIVERO (PRESIDENT): $297,550 total reported compensation
  • ASCH HARWOOD (VP, DATA & INSIGHTS): $218,462 total reported compensation
  • SHAWN SHEPHERD (VP, OPERATIONS & FINANCE): $206,796 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

ReFED is a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing food loss and waste across the U.S. by advancing data-driven solutions and mobilizing stakeholders across the food system.

What it reported doing in 2024

Data & insights program service accomplishments: refed's insights engine has now reached over 195,000 unique visitors and the organization has documented nearly 3,000 meaningful use cases of stakeholders engaging with and applying the data and insights shared within. Refed also migrated its data collection capabilities to a web-based application in order to streamline food business data reporting, enhance security capabilities, and increase data processing efficiencies. Refed also advanced new research to enhance our understanding of food waste and related solutions in methane emission factors, production losses in beef and dairy, enhanced solution modeling in the manufacturing sector, and whole supply chain analyses of beef, yogurt, potatoes, strawberries, plums, and bananas.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 51.9%; rating input score 52
  • Program expense ratio: 77.9%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 81.7%; rating input score 82; 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 34.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.76; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.5%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 35.9% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 51.9% of revenue deployed · 77.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $6.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $298K · 22 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $436K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.