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Jamaica Plain MA | IRS ruling year: 1992 | EIN: 22-3154028
Organization Mission
Community Servings' mission is to actively engage the community to provide scratch-made medically tailored meals to individuals and their families experiencing criti ... (More)
Community Servings' mission is to actively engage the community to provide scratch-made medically tailored meals to individuals and their families experiencing critical or chronic illness and nutrition insecurity. We commit, in all our programs and business practices, to prioritize racial and economic justice and health equity. (Less)
Great
This charity's score is 90%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 32% Accountability & Finance, 50% Impact & Results, 7% Leadership & Adaptability, 10% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charity’s success. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organization’s overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned.
Use the tool below to select different beacons to see how the weighting shifts when only one, two, or three beacons are earned.
| Date Published | Form 990 FYE | Overall Score | Overall Rating |
| Rating Version: 2.1 | |||
| 8/1/2022 | 2020 | 89.07 |  |
| 12/23/2021 | 2020 | 88.87 | |
This organization received multiple star ratings within this fiscal year, due to an update to its Accountability and Transparency data and/or the receipt of an amended Form 990. | |||
| 2/1/2021 | 2019 | 85.91 | |
| 7/1/2019 | 2018 | 94.49 | |
| 8/1/2018 | 2017 | 89.01 | |
| 10/1/2017 | 2016 | 89.62 | |
| 9/1/2016 | 2015 | 90.22 | |
| 6/1/2016 | 2014 | 94.79 | |
| Rating Version: 2.0 | |||
| 10/1/2015 | 2014 | 94.89 | |
| 10/1/2014 | 2013 | 98.74 | |
| 3/1/2013 | 2012 | 93.00 | |
| 6/1/2012 | 2011 | 89.75 | |
| 9/20/2011 | 2010 | 94.70 | |
| Rating Version: 1.0 | |||
| 7/1/2011 | 2010 | 91.24 | |
| 9/1/2010 | 2009 | 91.00 | |
| 7/1/2009 | 2008 | 87.83 | |
Score
Most Recent Fiscal Year:
FY 2022
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
Learn more
Full Credit
Partial Credit
No CreditMajority Independent Board Members - 100% independent members10 out of 10 points Majority Independent Board Members - 100% independent members10 out of 10 points
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. We check to see if at least 50% of board members are indentified as independent on their tax form.
Source: IRS Form 990
Independent Board Size - 26 independent members10 out of 10 points Independent Board Size - 26 independent members10 out of 10 points
Industry professionals strongly recommend an independent governing body to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters. For most organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least three board members. For large, donor-funded organizations, we check to see if the organization has at least five independent board members
Source: IRS Form 990
Independent Audit or Financial Review - Yes20 out of 20 points Independent Audit or Financial Review - Yes20 out of 20 points
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
| Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
| $2 million or higher and 40% or higher donor support | Expected to complete an audit and have an audit oversight committee |
| $1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
| $500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
| Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
Material Diversion of Assets - None20 out of 20 points Material Diversion of Assets - None20 out of 20 points
A diversion of assets — any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft — also can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We review the charity's most recent IRS Form 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets.
Source: IRS Form 990
Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditWebsite Listed on Tax Form - Listed5 out of 5 points Website Listed on Tax Form - Listed5 out of 5 points
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
Conflict of Interest Policy - Listed5 out of 5 points Conflict of Interest Policy - Listed5 out of 5 points
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Whistleblower Policy - Listed5 out of 5 points Whistleblower Policy - Listed5 out of 5 points
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Document Retention and Destruction - Listed5 out of 5 points Document Retention and Destruction - Listed5 out of 5 points
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the IRS Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Documents Board Meeting Minutes - Yes5 out of 5 points Documents Board Meeting Minutes - Yes5 out of 5 points
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the IRS Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
Tax Form Distributed to Board Before Filing - Listed5 out of 5 points Tax Form Distributed to Board Before Filing - Listed5 out of 5 points
Providing copies of the IRS Form 990 to the governing body prior to filing is considered a best practice, as it allows for thorough review by the individuals charged with overseeing the organization. The Form 990 asks the charity to disclose whether or not it has followed this best practice.
Loans to/from Officers - Listed5 out of 5 points Loans to/from Officers - Listed5 out of 5 points
Making loans to related parties, such as key officers, staff, or Board members, is not standard practice in the sector as it diverts the charity's funds away from its charitable mission and can lead to real and perceived conflict-of-interest problems.
The IRS requires charities to disclose on their Form 990 any loans to or from current and former officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and other "disqualified persons." Some state laws go so far as to prohibit loans to board members and officers.
Although employees and trustees are permitted to make loans to charities, this practice can also result in real and/or perceived conflict of interest problems for the charity. Furthermore, it is problematic because it indicates that the organization is not financially secure. Our analysts check to see if any loans have been made.
Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditTax Form Posted on Nonprofit's Website - Listed5 out of 5 points Tax Form Posted on Nonprofit's Website - Listed5 out of 5 points
For almost all charities, we check the charity's IRS Form 990 to see if it discloses that the Form 990 is available on the charity's website. As with the audited financial statement, donors need easy access to this financial report to help determine if the organization is managing its financial resources well.
Source: IRS Form 990
Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditLiabilities to Assets: Ratio - 21.12%25 out of 25 points Liabilities to Assets: Ratio - 21.12%25 out of 25 points
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent IRS Form 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization's solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Source: IRS Form 990
Program Expense: Ratio - 78.99%25 out of 25 points Program Expense: Ratio - 78.99%25 out of 25 points
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three IRS Forms 990). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Source: IRS Form 990
Fundraising Efficiency: Ratio - $0.1425 out of 25 points Fundraising Efficiency: Ratio - $0.1425 out of 25 points
The amount spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. We calculate the charity's average expenses and average contributions over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Working Capital: Ratio - 1.71 years25 out of 25 points Working Capital: Ratio - 1.71 years25 out of 25 points
Determines how long a charity could sustain its level of spending using its net available assets, or working capital, as reported on its most recently filed IRS Form 990. Dividing these net available assets in the most recent year by a charity's average total expenses, yields the working capital ratio. We calculate the charity's average total expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
No Data Available
Salary data is coming soon.
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Community Servings) or EIN (223154028) in the 'Search Term' field.
Score
This beacon estimates the actual impact a charity has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.
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Program
Food is Medicine Medically Tailored Meal Program
Activities
The nonprofit prepares, delivers, and serves meals to beneficiaries.
Program Type
Delivered & Congregate Meals
Beneficiaries Served
People with illnesses, people living in poverty, senior citizens
Program Geography
Community Servings is Massachusetts' only statewide provider of home-delivered, medically tailored meals. In 2023, we expanded to serve individuals in Rhode Island.
Time Period of Data
7/1/22 to 6/30/23
Outcomes: Changes in the lives of those served by a nonprofit. They can be caused by the nonprofit.
Costs: The money spent by a nonprofit and its partners and beneficiaries.
Impact: Outcome caused by a nonprofit relative to its cost.
Cost-effectiveness: A judgment as to whether the cost was a good use of resources to cause the outcome.
Outcome Metric
meals provided
Outcome Data Source
Ratings are based on data the nonprofit itself collects on its work. We use the most recent year with sufficient data. Typically, this data allows us to calculate direct changes in participants' lives, such as increased income.
Outcome data collected during the program. The nonprofit submitted data on the amount of food it provides.
Method for Attributing Outcomes
We don't know if the observed changes were caused by the nonprofit's program or something else happening at the same time (e.g., a participant got a raise). To determine causation, we take the outcomes we observe and subtract an estimate of the outcomes that would have happened even without the program (i.e., counterfactual outcomes).
We assume that the distribution of a meal from one nonprofit's food distribution program does not diminish the amount of food distributed by any other (neighboring) food distribution program. This “counterfactual” assumption about the amount of food distributed in the absence of the nonprofit’s food distribution program implies that the benefit of a meal to a beneficiary in need constitutes a net gain; the gain is not offset by reductions in food provided to other beneficiaries in need. We therefore set the counterfactual to zero.
Cost Data Source
After estimating the program's outcomes, we need to determine how much it cost to achieve those outcomes. All monetary costs are counted, whether they are borne by a nonprofit service deliverer or by the nonprofit’s public and private partners.
Program cost data reported by the nonprofit. Partner and beneficiary costs reported by the nonprofit or estimated by Charity Navigator.
Cost Calculation
$9,414,219 program costs + $0 partner costs + $0 beneficiary costs = $9,414,219 total costs
We calculate impact, defined as the change in outcomes attributable to a program divided by the cost to achieve those outcomes.
Impact Calculation
$9,414,219 total costs / 1,142,669 meals provided = roughly $8.24 provides a meal to a person in need. [2021 USD]
Benchmark for Rating
Impact & Results scores of food distribution programs are based on the cost of a meal relative to the cost that a food-secure person incurs to buy a meal in that county. Programs receive an Impact & Results score of 100 if they are less than 75% the cost of a meal and a score of 80 if they are less than 125%. If a nonprofit reports impact but doesn't meet the benchmark for cost-effectiveness, it earns a score of 65.
Determination
Cost-effective
Score
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves.
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Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditConstituent Feedback - Data Available100/100 points Constituent Feedback - Data Available100/100 points
30% of beacon score
This organization reported that it is collecting feedback from the constituents and/or communities it serves. The methodology leveraged for Constituent Feedback is based on The Core Principles of Constituent Feedback, which describes listening and responding well to feedback. Charity Navigator participates in a consortium with other feedback experts and leading nonprofit infrastructure platforms to drive Constituent Feedback's advancement, promotion, and data collection.
Who are the people you serve with your mission? Describe briefly.
Community Servings serves individuals impacted by food insecurity and critical and chronic illnesses such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, HIV, and diabetes. All of our clients are medically certified as too sick to shop/cook for themselves or access other nutrition services, such as a congregate meal site or food pantry. Our client data shows: - 98% of our clients are experiencing poverty. - 62% identify as Black, Latinx, or Asian, 38% identify as white. - Our clients are battling more than 35 different types of serious illnesses. 41% of our clients have multiple illnesses/co-morbidities. The most common illnesses our clients are affected by are: cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, and HIV. - 36% are older adults (age 60+). - 14% are unhoused.
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Case management notes, Suggestion box/email
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
With whom does your organization share the feedback you got from the people you serve?
Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners
How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship with them or shifted power - over decisions, resources, rules or in other ways - to them?
For more than 15 years, Community Servings has administered an annual Client Survey, asking clients about their satisfaction with all aspects of our nutrition service, and collecting data on a wide variety of self-reported outcomes. Community Servings also collects client feedback through nutrition assessments/reassessments and during nutrition counseling sessions. This feedback informs the adaptation of our program and model. By soliciting feedback from our clients on a regular basis and acting on clients’ input/suggestions, we send the message to our clients that they have a voice and power. Clients are not passive recipients of our services, but participants who have strengths and assets and an integral role to play in our home-delivered, medically tailored meal program.
What challenges does your organization face in collecting feedback from the people you serve?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Briefly describe a recent change that your organization made in response to feedback from the people you serve.
In response to client feedback as well as updated nutritional standards as recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services and the USDA, our Registered Dietitian Nutritionists revamped our medically tailored meal diets in 2019. This includes the addition of a Pescatarian diet choice (a vegetarian diet that includes fish) and the modification and elimination of a few diets. The resulting 15 diets (e.g. cardiac, renal), which can be combined in up to three different diet combinations, are more closely aligned with nutritional recommendations as it applies to the management of specific illnesses, and are better able to meet our clients’ nutritional needs and preferences.
Equity Practices - Data Available95/100 points Equity Practices - Data Available95/100 points
70% of beacon score
This organization's score of 95 is a passing score. The organization reported that it is implementing 12 Equity Practices.
This assessment demonstrates the importance of implementing practices that contribute positively to an organization's overall culture, both internally and with respect to community engagement. Furthermore, equity centered frameworks and similar approaches have drawn much attention from donors, experts, and sector leaders who underscore its value to the nonprofit's overall health and capacity for mission success. Currently, the Equity Strategies Checklist assessment consists of practices and policies that promote racial equity in their operations and programs (per the Equity Strategies checklist administered by Candid). As we refine our DEI assessment, Charity Navigator partners with DEI consultants and field experts to broaden and deepen this work.
| Equity Practices (7/7) | |
We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race. | |
We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and/or portfolios. | |
We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization/'s programs, portfolios, and the populations served. | |
We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support. | |
We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders. | |
We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured | |
We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization. | |
| Equity Policies and Procedures (5/7) | |
We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity. | |
We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions. | |
We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization. | |
We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board. | |
We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability. | |
We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team. | |
We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization. | |
Score
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
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Full CreditPartial CreditNo CreditMission 10/10 points Mission 10/10 points
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
Community Servings' mission is to actively engage the community to provide scratch-made medically tailored meals to individuals and their families experiencing critical or chronic illness and nutrition insecurity. We commit, in all our programs and business practices, to prioritize racial and economic justice and health equity.
Vision 10/10 points Vision 10/10 points
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
We envision a world in which everyone has access to the nutritious food they need for health and wel
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Goals 20/20 points Goals 20/20 points
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: We will scale our medically tailored meal program to reach more individuals, dependent children & caregivers affected by food insecurity & severe illness. By FY24, we will provide 1.2M meals annually.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: We will continue to advocate for medically tailored meals as a healthcare intervention &, through our Food is Medicine Accelerator, incubate/scale medically tailored meal programs across the country.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Leadership Development 15/15 points Leadership Development 15/15 points
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Describe an investment in leadership
Community Servings is committed to investing in leadership development at all levels of our agency to build capacity, retain staff, enhance our efficacy and agility, and foster a positive workplace culture. Over the past 12-18 months, key investments in leadership include: - Staff participated in a certificate program through the Institute for Nonprofit Practice to gain the skills, knowledge, and networks needed to make strategic, mission-driven decisions that center DEI and effect meaningful change. - Staff participated in the Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield to help participants increase their impact and effectiveness and enhance their organization’s influence in addressing challenges and opportunities. - Our 13-person leadership team completed components of the Annie E. Casey Race Matters Toolkit.
Mobilizing for Mission 15/15 points Mobilizing for Mission 15/15 points
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
Policy Advocacy
What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?
Community Servings is a thought leader in the field of ‘Food is Medicine’ and we have taken on a leadership role, regionally and nationally, in advocating for the role of medically tailored meals as an innovative component of integrated care for the severely ill. Community Servings is a founding member of the Food is Medicine Massachusetts coalition, and the national Food Is Medicine Coalition, a coalition of 27 nutrition agencies formed for the purpose of advocating for sustainable funding sources and shared research. In 2020, we co-launched a national “Food is Medicine” Accelerator, to incubate and scale medically tailored meal programs across the country with the goal of increasing access to the medically tailored meal model. Community Servings regularly presents data on our nutrition model at national conferences, and we have published the results of four research studies on the impact of our medically tailored meals in peer-reviewed, academic journals.
Adaptability Story 30/30 points Adaptability Story 30/30 points
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
Over the past year, as COVID-19 raged throughout the Commonwealth, we innovated and adapted our home-delivered, medically tailored meal model on a weekly, if not daily, basis, with the goals of continuing to serve our clients and their families experiencing illness and food insecurity while expanding our operations to reach additional community members in need. Over the past year, we increased the production of our medically tailored meals by more than 75% to almost 74,000 meals per month. Given the pandemic’s outsized impact on low-resource communities and communities of color, we expanded our presence in Black and Latinx communities and Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities (midsize urban centers that anchor regional economies across the state and face social and economic challenges). With an increasingly diverse client base, we prioritized adapting our nutrition program to ensure our outreach strategy, client communications, menu development, and nutrition education and counseling reflect a culturally competent approach. To support our tremendous growth and mitigate a 60% reduction in volunteerism due to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines, we hired 17 additional staff members, primarily in delivery, kitchen, nutrition, and client services departments. We developed new programs and program components to more effectively meet the needs of our clients and their families over the past year. This includes the launch of a COVID Meals Program for food-insecure community members with a diagnosis of COVID-19, and the provision of medically tailored shelf-stable meal boxes to our clients and their families. We implemented key operational changes to promote the safety of our community, staff, and clients, such as a “no-contact” home delivery model and increased sanitation of our building and delivery vans, and we collaborated with more food vendors to ensure we could mitigate food supply chain issues and secure the food products needed to prepare 74,000+ meals per month.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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