PLATINUM2022

Lunchbox Fund

Feed a child, nourish a mind.

aka The Lunchbox Fund   |   New York, NY   |  www.thelunchboxfund.org

Mission

Fostering education via nutrition, The Lunchbox Fund is an NGO dedicated to providing a daily meal for orphaned and vulnerable school children in township and rural areas of South Africa, a country where 65% of all children live in poverty. Receiving food encourages these children to stay in school and obtain their education. When a child stays in school, his or her risk of HIV infection, abuse and unwanted pregnancies is greatly reduced.

Ruling year info

2005

Principal Officer

Topaz Page-Green

Main address

P.O. Box 10

New York, NY 10276 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

20-1232903

NTEE code info

Food Service, Free Food Distribution Programs (K30)

Philanthropy / Charity / Voluntarism Promotion (General) (T50)

Emergency Assistance (Food, Clothing, Cash) (P60)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

There are 12 million children in South Africa that live below the poverty line. Of those children, 4 million do not have access to the government's school feeding programs, and often don't know when or where their next meal will be coming from. This means that they are not only threatened by malnutrition, but their education is also threatened as they are often not able to attend school as they have no food to take, or if they do attend cannot concentrate. The Lunchbox Fund's ultimate goal is to fill that gap and feed all the children that the government does not, by instituting school nutrition programs at schools and Early Childhood Development Centers.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Nutrition Program

We provide in-school daily meals to food insecure and at risk children throughout South Africa to put them in a position to receive an education

Population(s) Served
Children and youth

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of meals served or provided

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Economically disadvantaged people, At-risk youth

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

The total number of meals provided over the course of the year to children in schools

Number of children reached with a meal each school day

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people

Related Program

Nutrition Program

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

This is the number of needy children reached each school day in schools across South Africa

Number of children reached per $100

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Each meal costs 25c. $100 dollars provides 400 children with one hot meal.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

LBF recognises that children cannot be educated or grow with insufficient nutritional intake. Our Nutrition Programme is arranged around our primary goal which is to uphold a child's right to a basic education. No child should be kept from learning by hunger or household food insecurity. LBF provides a daily hot school meal of nutritionally fortified foods to impoverished and at risk children attending early childhood development centres (ECDCs), Educational Playgroups, primary and secondary schools in South Africa, and after-school homework and skills development programs.

We aim to facilitate children's education through offering a behavioural incentive for children to attend and stay in schools and creches, and through helping them to concentrate and learn while there. These are important steps for children in reaching their full potential as adults and in breaking the intergenerational cycles of poverty and vulnerability.

The Lunchbox Fund provides a monthly rotating menu of nutritionally fortified meals for children in township schools and Early Childhood Development Centers across all 9 provinces of South Africa. It costs 25¢ for one meal that includes a full RDA of macro- and micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. The school is also required to source locally grown vegetables from within the community. We provide each school with one month's worth of food at a time, and the local women we employ ensure that the food is prepared and served properly.

We currently serve children across all 9 provinces of South Africa. Every school day, we provide nearly 32,000 children with hot meals. Every school has a clean facility for preparing and serving the food. The Lunchbox Fund is a registered Non-Profit Organisation in South Africa and in the United States. A Board of Directors in both countries guides the organisation's mission, purpose and management.

LBF beneficiaries are vulnerable and food insecure children in South Africa. LBF South Africa is staffed by a Managing Director, a Program Monitoring Manager, and a Director of Programs. Independently contracted Fieldworks and Cooks ('Food Mamas') are essential to our Monitoring and Nutrition Programmes respectively. Fieldworkers are located provincially in all nine provinces of South Africa, and in schools of more than 80 children stipended Food Mamas are drawn from the local community.

Our United States entity is primarily focussed on fundraising, global policy and strategy, and our outward facing communications (such as our website and social media). Our Founding CEO is based in the United States, as well as our Project Manager.

The Lunchbox Fund's staffing structure allows us to outsource additional capacity on a needs-only and deliverable basis to carefully selected, highly qualified partners - such our food supply and delivery company in South Africa, legal services, and independent auditors. In this way, we ensure we reduce our overhead costs and minimise financial risk.

We are on track with our projections. We became a fully national organisation in 2015, and increased the number of children we serve to 30,000. In 2021, the Lunchbox Fund reached 31,033 children with over five million meals. Our Covid Relief program delivered more than 2 million meals to over 70,000 family members throughout South Africa. Our next goal is to serve 35,000 children a hot meal each school day by December 2022.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    We collect feedback from the school administrators and principals of the schools in the Lunchbox Fund nutrition program.

  • How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

    Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Case management notes,

  • 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 strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    In 2021, after reviewing feedback from the schools, we removed gravy from our menu as it was not a favorite product. Furthermore, with the spices and powders that are out into the soya mince, one can easily take some of that out and turn it into a gravy.

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

    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?

    Asking for feedback has strengthened our partnerships with our schools and our community partner organizations. We as an organizations want to hear and meet their needs, and the schools, as the receiving party, want to abide by our guidelines so that they can remain in our school nutrition program.

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,

Financials

Lunchbox Fund
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Lunchbox Fund

Board of directors
as of 01/31/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Emmanuel Roman

No Affiliation

Joaquin Phoenix

Topaz Page-Green

No Affiliation

Rain Phoenix

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Not applicable
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Not applicable
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Not applicable
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 10/23/2020

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Decline to state
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Decline to state

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 10/23/2020

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • 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.