The Food Trust
Philadelphia, PA · EIN 23-2678383. Reported 60 grants totalling $2,311,487 to 56 organizations across tax years 2021-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For The Food Trust, the IRS classifies it under food & nutrition rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE K40Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 56 distinct organizations, with 6% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 6% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $40,000. Half of what it reported fell between $30,000 and $40,000; the smallest was $5,130 and the largest $150,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem's Market Centre Ave LLC | Pittsburgh, PA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Whole Food Cooperative | Erie, PA | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Chandi Supermarket | Bethlehem, PA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| King Super Market Food | Reading, PA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bethlehem Food Co-Op | Bethlehem, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Freeman and Associates | Pittsburgh, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Weavers Way Cooperative Association | Philadelphia, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Hayday Farms | Langhorne, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lemon & Lime LLC | New Kensington, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Meat Corporation | Philadelphia, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Millvale Market | Pittsburgh, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Munir Food Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tcg Groceries | Philadelphia, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Vine Farmers Market Corp | Hazelton, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Aletta's Farm Market | Curwensville, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ava Farm | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Bee's Tiny Market | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Deliah & Dean LLC | Pottstown, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Eniola African Store LLC | Harrisburg, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| F & B Meat Corp | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Farmer Girl Eb | Pittsburgh, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Gerrity's Supermarket | Scranton, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Honeysuckle Projects LLC | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Juniata Supermarket Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| K Schlegel Fruit Farm | Dalmatia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Por Gracia Soy Salvo Grocery Corp | Shenandoah, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Saba Deli Grocery | Philadelphia, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Smiley's Deli & Provisions | Lancaster, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Uncle Mussa Grocery | Upper Darby, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Y&f Supermarket LLC | Harrisburg, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| York Fresh Food Farms | York, PA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Abreu Mini Market | Philadelphia, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Allentown Meat & Produce Market | Allentown, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Asia Food Market | Lancaster, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Belmont 33 LLC | Carbondale, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Fresh Choice Food Market | Philadelphia, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Kensington Food Market | Philadelphia, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| R & R Grocery | Philadelphia, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Cooperage Project | Honesdale, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Uncle Musa Grocery Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Vmr Services | Philadelphia, PA | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ec Food Market | Philadelphia, PA | $33,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Blessing Food Store | Lancaster, PA | $30,300 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dave's Hometown Market | Ellwood, PA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Falls Center Market | Beaver Falls, PA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Montgomery County Food Council Inc | Bethesda, MD | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation | Philadelphia, PA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Greater Reading Chamber and Economic Development Corporation | Reading, PA | $23,707 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Wichita State University Foundation | Wichita, KS | $21,000 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Veggiehouse Farm LLC | Arnold, PA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Communities Revolutionizing Open Public Spaces | Atlantic City, NJ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Interfaith Neighbors Inc | Asbury Park, NJ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Urban Seeds Grow | Bloomfield, NJ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska | Lincoln, NE | $13,350 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community First Fund | Lancaster, PA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Cross-Lines Community Outreach Inc | Kansas City, KS | $5,130 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
3 of 56 (5%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Salem's Market Centre Ave LLC
TO SUPPORT GROCERY STORE EXPANSION IN PROVIDING FRESH FOODS TO LOCAL COMMUNITY - Chandi Supermarket
HEALTHY FOOD FINANCING GRANT TO RETAILER - Lemon & Lime LLC
GRANT TO RENOVATE FOOD RETAILER FACILITY TO SUPPORT SALES OF FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. - Greater Reading Chamber Alliance
GRANT TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE WITH FOOD BUCKS/HEART BUCKS PROGRAMMING - Crops
GRANT FOR OUTREACH TO RETAILERS APPLYING FOR FACILITY RENOVATION GRANTS (NJ) - Community First Fund Pa Fffi Funding
GRANT FOR OUTREACH TO AND EVALUATION OF RETAILERS APPLYING FOR FACILITY RENOVATION GRANTS (PA)
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 11 of 56 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | $895,000 | $40,000 |
| 2022 | 26 | $921,650 | $35,000 |
| 2023 | 19 | $494,837 | $20,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
95% of its giving went to organizations in Pennsylvania. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $40,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Pennsylvania.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Food Trust's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 6 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 13 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 1617 John F Kennedy Blvd 900, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
EIN 23-2678383 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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