Every Meal
Every Meal
2723 Patton Road
Roseville MN 55113
Roseville MN | IRS ruling year: 2013 | EIN: 80-0919680
Every Meal's mission is to fight child hunger through community and school partnerships.
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2723 Patton Road
Roseville MN 55113
Roseville MN | IRS ruling year: 2013 | EIN: 80-0919680
Every Meal's mission is to fight child hunger through community and school partnerships.
Great
This charity's score is 100%, 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: 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.
Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!
Every Meal has earned a 100% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2021, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us.
Learn more
Charity Navigator looks for at least 3 board members, with more than 50% of those members identified as independent (not salaried).
The presence of an independent governing body is strongly recommended by many industry professionals to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters.
Source: IRS Form 990
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 |
---|---|
$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
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the 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
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the 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
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the 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
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the 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
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the 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
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Liabilities to Assets Ratio | Amount of Credit Received |
---|---|
Less than 50% | Full Credit |
50% - 59.9% | Partial Credit |
60% or more | No Credit |
Source: IRS Form 990
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Program Expense Percentage | Amount of Credit Received |
---|---|
70% or higher | Full Credit |
60% - 69.9% | Partial Credit |
50% - 59.9% | Zero Points for Program Expense Score |
Below 50% | Zero Points for Both Program Expense AND Liabilities to Assets Scores |
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
Key Persons data is currently unavailable for this organization. This data is only available if this charity has at least one year of electronically-filed Form 990 data filed within the last six years.
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
Activities:
Activity data not reported from the IRS
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 (Every Meal) or EIN (800919680) in the 'Search Term' field.
This organization was impacted by COVID-19 in a way that effected their financial health in 2020. This normally would have reduced their star rating. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them, and doing this pauses our revision of their rating. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Every Meal reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:
Program Delivery
Fundraising Capacity
Revenue
Staffing
Administrative Capacity
Grants Received
Balance Sheet
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:
Our food costs went up considerably to respond to the skyrocketing increase in food insecurity in our community. Fortunately, our donations increased to support that spend and we were able to increase our food output by 400% at the start of the pandemic. Additional costs went to updating our facility to ensure the health and safety of our volunteers and staff. We updated our Volunteer Center with more handwashing stations, added more PPE (i.e. masks), and implemented processes to clean work areas and sanitize tables and tools. For staff, we invested money in more IT infrastructure, like cameras in conference rooms, to provide a more remote working environment.
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were primarily providing food to children living with food insecurity through our Weekend Food Program by distributing meal bags in kid's backpacks while they were at school. With school closures and distance learning, we had to shift our in-school distribution model to ensure kids still had access to food. We worked with our school and district partners to develop a distribution site model where we provide meal bags available at the distribution sites they set up. We also sought out additional partnerships with libraries, parks, community buildings, workshop centers, and fire stations to provide more locations for families to access food.
How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:
We had to reduce the number of volunteers and packing events to maintain proper social distancing and avoid spread. Volunteers play an essential role in packing the meal bags that go out to children and families each week. We were able to create a small team of crisis response volunteers who volunteered repeatedly to help us keep up with the increased need. We also had to expand our warehouse and find additional storage locations to inventory the increase in the food we purchased. Additionally, our work environment changed as more staff moved from working on-site to working from home. While some staff still had to come in, particularly our food delivery drivers, we focused on providing the communication tools needed for remote staff to keep our work going as seamlessly as possible.
Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, and uncertainties remain for schools and families, we are providing our partners with options to help get food to children - through our in-school distribution model, a distribution site model, or both. This means offering our in-school model of distributing food in kids' backpacks to schools where this is feasible. Or if a distribution site model works better, we are offering to provide meal bags to distribution sites they set up. Whatever the case, we are adapting as needed to ensure kids don't question when they'll get their next meal.
Every Meal has earned a 100% for the Impact & Results beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
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.
Learn more
Program
Youth Food Program
Activities
The nonprofit prepares and serves meals to beneficiaries.
Program Type
Food Distribution
Beneficiaries Served
Program Geography
Time Period of Data
7/1/20 to 6/30/21
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
A meal provided to a person in need
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
$4,194,846 program costs + $0 partner costs + $0 beneficiary costs = $4,194,846 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
$4,194,846 total costs / 2,344,961 meals provided = roughly $2 provides a meal to a person in need.
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
Highly cost-effective
Every Meal reported its largest program on its FY 2021 Form 990 as:
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
In the fall of 2010, the principal at Sheridan Elementary told Mill City Church, and Every Meal founder Rob Williams, her students didn't have enough food on the weekends and asked if they could help. ... (More)
In the fall of 2010, the principal at Sheridan Elementary told Mill City Church, and Every Meal founder Rob Williams, her students didn't have enough food on the weekends and asked if they could help. In response, they provided meal bags each Friday and the organization was born. Since then, the organization has worked tirelessly to remove the barriers to food access that so many children face. Every Meal has provided over 7.5 million meals to thousands of children who are living in food insecurity.Every Meal (formerly The Sheridan Story) works to fight child hunger in the Minnesota and Western Wisconsin by filling the gaps that children face during weekends, summers, and extended breaks when they are not in school to access meal programs. Through a network of over 600 partner organizations, Every Meal provides thousands of children with the food they need to learn and grow.A differentiator of Every Meal is the quality of food provided. Over 99% of our food is purchased from over a dozen local, national, and global vendors. Food items and brands are determined through guidance from an on-staff registered dietician who analyzes nutritional contents and taste to ensure that the food is both nutritious and delicious.Investing in more warehouse space and demand planning technology has allowed Every Meal to purchase a greater variety of high-quality food while leveraging economies of scale to reduce costs. These efforts have resulted in a wider range of food options available to children including regionally-specific beans, specialized grains and flours, and favorable vegetables and fruits for various cultural cooking needs. These investments have allowed Every Meal to improve the selection of foods provided children and their families, ensuring that the food they receive is nutritious, delicious, and culturally and situationally relevant.Every Meal continued the innovations and program expressions instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd. Food distribution methods were adapted to reflect the various learning models that schools implemented, and additional community sites such as the YMCA, libraries, parks, worship centers, and fire stations continued to provide food access for children. Every Meal invested in program support capacity to ensure adequate resources could be provided to schools, whose needs became more complex as learning models and operational demands changed rapidly.Other innovative programs, like the Grow and Give program, allowed Every Meal to distribute fresh produce to children and their families. Produce grown in the Every Meal garden was combined with produce donated by individuals and Grow and Give partner organizations to be distributed weekly to children in Roseville, Minnesota. (Less)
Every Meal has earned a 95% for the Culture & Community beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves.
Learn more
30% of beacon score
This organization reported that it is collecting feedback from the constituents and/or communities it serves. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations that engage in inclusive practices, such as collecting feedback from the people and communities they serve, may be more effective.
Who are the people you serve with your mission? Describe briefly.
Every Meal serves youth from birth to age 26 throughout the state of Minnesota and Western Wisconsin at school and community sites. Families who identify as food insecure opt into the program and receive a 4-5 pound bag of nutritious, delicious and relevant food during weekends, holidays, extended breaks, eliminating the food gap when they aren’t at school to utilize breakfast and lunch programs.
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, 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?
The people we 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?
By receiving and integrating feedback from the children and families we serve, Every Meal is actively providing food that is nutritious, delicious and relevant. Our process is driven by their perspectives instead of relying on our perceptions about what youth and families in our community need.
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 feedback from the youth and families we serve in our community, Every Meal has expanded the food options available by researching and purchasing from multiple brands, ensuring that the food provided is culturally relevant to our community, as well as offering situationally appropriate packaged food for families that don't have access to kitchens.
70% of beacon score
This organization's score of 93 is a passing score. The organization reported that it is implementing 8 Equity Practices. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations implementing effective equity policies and practices can enhance a nonprofit's decision-making, staff motivation, innovation, and effectiveness.
Equity Practices (3/7) | |
---|---|
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. |
Every Meal has earned a 100% for the Leadership & Adaptability beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
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.
Learn more
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
Every Meal's mission is to fight child hunger through community and school partnerships.
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
Every Child. Every Meal.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Our goal is to be in every school in Minnesota and western Wisconsin that wants our programming by 2028. This includes expanding and diversifying our programs.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Invest in systems, tech, and relationships to improve engagement with community and partners. This includes adding a new CRM and creating a new initiative connecting all weekend food programs in MN.
Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).
Goal Three: Develop a 1st class volunteer experience by connecting volunteers to the fight against child hunger to broaden our reach and ensure that every child has every meal.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
To better equip and support leadership roles at Every Meal, the organization has made investments at several levels. Manager-level staff attended a Mid-management Track Workshop. This consisted of six sessions from March through August 2021 on different topics designed to deepen understanding of key nonprofit principles and build leadership skills. Director-level staff have been undergoing certificate programs in their focus areas and are also receiving professional coaching. Our President recently completed a leadership certificate through Stanford Business School.
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
Policy Advocacy
We partner with schools through a mobile delivery solution, providing food to children right where they are – at school. Additionally, we have many strategic partnerships with industry, community, and business leaders to develop collaborations. We present to various local groups around backpack programs and food insecurity. We equip our sponsors (community organizations that partner with schools) with the tools to raise funds towards the program and train volunteers to distribute meal bags. We participate in groups with other hunger-relief organizations. This includes developing shared resources and advocating for universal meals for children in school. Of special note, we convene all weekend food programs in Minnestoa to collaborate, support, and strategize on how best to serve Minnesota kids. We use various marketing channels such as social media, email, web, and PR to spread awareness about child food insecurity and how we are fighting child hunger.
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed life for everyone, including children in our community. It drove over 100,000 more children in Minnesota into food insecurity. Every Meal took quick action to respond to the skyrocketing needs. We completely shifted our in-school distribution model of placing meal bags directly in children's backpacks. To ensure kids still had access to food, we worked with our school and district partners to make our meal bags available at their distribution sites. We set up more community meal pick-up sites at libraries, parks, community buildings, workshop centers, and fire stations. Our community relationships and donor support were vital in ensuring children had food during these uncertain times. As a result, we were able to do what we do best - distribute food to kids who need it most. Within a month into the pandemic, we increased our food output by 400%. In the midst of this, we responded to another crisis following the killing of George Floyd. The unrest turned some neighborhoods in the Twin Cities into overnight food deserts as locals found their grocery stores destroyed or closed. A parent put out a call on social media for 85 kits of food and supplies for Sanford Middle School students. It went viral very quickly. The school then turned to Every Meal to help manage the anticipated influx in donations. The result was one of the biggest food drives we’ve ever seen… and perhaps one of the largest-ever in Minnesota. In less than a day, about 18 semi-trucks of food and supplies were collected and approximately 2,000 families served. In the days and weeks following, we distributed the overflow to other organizations throughout the Twin Cities to get it to families in need. Through all this, we've adapted our distribution with children on top of mind. In the year following the pandemic (from March 13, 2020 to March 12, 2021), we provided 3.5 million meals to children, many of which faced food insecurity for the first time.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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