Food Empowerment Project
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Food Empowerment Project seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one's food choices.
- Income
- $531,754
- Spending
- $699,841
- Spent on programs
- 68%
- Reserves
- 15.7 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
- Employees
- 7
- Volunteers
- 40
- Highest pay
- $107,829, senior prog dir
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 75 out of 100. Higher than 41% of charities in its peer group (food and agriculture, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 15.7 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 6% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 32% of income.
Income trend
5 of 15Income fell 15% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1568% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 8 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 84 out of 100. Higher than 74% of charities in its peer group (food and agriculture, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
18 of 253 of 3 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
6 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $303,079 spent. VeganismWe began 2024 with our "Why Compassion?" project, a series of videos in which vegans of various ages and backgrounds share why compassion for animals is their principal motivation for going and staying vegan. We conducted our second-annual Youth ScholarshipContest, for creative youths aged 11 to 24 who have a passion for compassion to win $300 to $500 by using their writing or illustrating talent to advocate for ethical veganism and help create a kinder world. Fox 56 News did a segment on it.F. E. P. organized a free webinar, "Embodiment of Injustice: The Dairy Industry, which provided an eye-opening look at injustices that are embedded in the dairy industry. The event featured guest speakersincluding a dairy workerand videos, through which attendees gained a deeper understanding of their food choices and how they can stand up against the dairy industry. A post-event survey showed that people loved the webinar. One attendee wrote: An incredibly eye-opening and compassionate seminar, providing different but important perspectives about the dairy industry and its cultural impact on vulnerable communities. Other responses included: Motivating and validating, Revolutionary, and Very informative and full of resources that we can share with others. In fact, 100 percent of attendeeswho werent all vegansaid the seminar made them interested in learning more about veganism.We asked our California supporters to call out the greenwashing being carried out by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), one of the biggest utility companies in the state. PG&E wants its own customers to fund the cost overruns on construction of biodigesters in Merced County, a project that has exceeded its budget by more than $8 million. F. E. P. submitted comments to PG&E with the assistance of a climate scientist; we asked people to leave a public comment and inform the company that not only should these costs be covered by the developers and not community members, but this project will intensify the suffering of cows already exploited in the dairy industry.We launched our latest culinary website, VeganSoulFood.org, which targets a large audience with a wide range of recipes from throughout the African diaspora. It includes more than 25 vegan recipes celebrating rich flavors and showing people they dont have to sacrifice their favorite foods to go and stay vegan. F. E. P. was able to produce videos to attract appropriate vegan recipes. When launched the site has received more than 1,566 pageviews in two months, and notable media coverage.We put up an anti-dairy billboard near the University of California, Los Angeles, directing people to our website GotColonization.com, where they can learn about the industrys impact on animals, human health, workers, and the environment. Vegan Chinese Food was beautifully printed as a 48 full-color recipe guide.Eating Vegan in College page, created as ideal not only for vegan students who want to stay vegan, but for those who go vegan in college, as well as students who want to go vegan once they leave home for college but arent sure how. It helps them navigate everything from accessibility challenges to cooking in dorm rooms.We created a Vegan Holiday Recipes page that was promoted for both vegans and nonvegans to share. We also developed a Vegan Hacks page for vegans and the veg-curious, which explains how to transform whole-foods ingredients into meat and dairy alternatives.We created YouTube video ads highlighting two of our resources: the Vegan Mexican Food (VMF) and Vegan Filipino Food (VFF) websites and their accompanying recipes guides. These eye-catching ads got excellent engagement, with VMF receiving more than 30,000 views and 14,000 clicks to the website and VFF getting more than 2,000 views and 1,100 clicks. In other words, about half of the people who saw the ads demonstrated interest in them.Team members at F.E.P. did various speaking and tabling events in California, Kentucky, and North Carolina and England as well as various podcasts and interviews.We added more than 10 recipes to our main recipe page.We also created two new issue web pages:Climate Crisis resource, which serves as both an introduction to this subject and a call to action. It emphasizes why the impact of animal consumption needs to be part of the climate conversation and why going vegan is a step forward in the fight for climate justice.Focusing on the troubling popularity of commercial octopus farming. The Ethical and Environmental Impacts of Octopus Farming takes a deep dive into the reasons octopus farming is a terrible idea, especially concerns about animal cruelty. The page ends with recommendations that people can take to help stop this trend.Our views for our main site, FoodIsPower.org, for 2024 was 2,924,535, our GotColonization.com website received 61,368 views, and all of our vegan cultural food sites combined received 347,271.We mailed 600 pieces of our anti-dairy booklet and around 750 of our cultural recipe guides.
- $91,879 spent. Farm Worker RightsWe worked on various pieces of legislation regarding housing and education for farm workers and their children.We conducted our annual school supply drive and donated more than 200 backpacks to the children of farm workers living along the Central Coast of California. These farm workers primarily pick strawberries. We also connected with Jos Moreno Hernndez, a former farm worker who is now an engineer and a retired NASA astronaut, who kindly sent in an encouraging quote to be included in each backpack
- $55,964 spent. Access to Healthy FoodWe continued to expose the Safeway/Albertsons policy that impacts the health of communities.
- $27,110 spent. Chocolate We continued to update our Chocolate List, to which 100 companies were added in 2024, and the app was downloaded 18,000 times.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since August 2008.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.