PLATINUM2025

TREES THAT FEED FOUNDATION

Planting fruit trees to feed people, create jobs and benefit the environment

Northfield, IL   |  https://treesthatfeed.org

Mission

We plant fruit trees to feed people, create jobs and benefit the environment. We supply individuals and groups with the best varieties of fruit trees suitable to the environment. We provide trees for planting in small farms, field margins, agroforests, urban backyards and commercial orchards. We've planted over 450,000 fruit trees in Haiti, Jamaica and 20 other countries. We also provide equipment and training to individuals and groups for production of post-harvest food products. TTFF is proud of the successful young entrepreneurs we have helped to launch. We purchase and distribute tasty breadfruit porridge and other foods to schools, orphanages and hospitals. And we provide education to children about the advantages of planting trees.

Notes from the nonprofit

In 16 years we have created a proven model for sustainable agroforestry and community development. We have planted more than 350,000 trees of substantial size. Fruit are bearing, entrepreneurs are creating food products with our donated equipment, and we are feeding hundreds of hungry schoolchildren daily. We also feed the schoolchildren's minds with an educational coloring book "Plant a Tree and Good Things Happen." We've expanded from Jamaica and Haiti into 20 other countries. With additional support we will scale up our proven model and expand into other countries, on a carefully managed basis.

Ruling year info

2009

President, Chair, Co-founder

Mary McLaughlin

Secretary-Treasurer

S Michael McLaughlin

Main address

1750 Harding Rd

Northfield, IL 60093-3306 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

26-2780427

NTEE code info

Agricultural Programs (K20)

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

We address several inter-related problems. First, hunger. In developing countries access to food is expensive and uncertain, due in part to the decline in agriculture. We donate fruit trees to smallholder farmers and community groups to alleviate hunger. Second, the environment is suffering from deforestation. Our 350,000+ fruit trees in countries like Haiti and the Bahamas help to address the problem. Third is the poor economy. Excess fruit can be sold as a cash crop by smallholder farmers. We also assist small business startups which helps to create jobs. Fourth, we believe we are also reducing forced migration by creating self-sufficient community groups.

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?

Education

We provide educational activity books in nine languages as well as trainings for farmers and schoolchildren.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Farmers

We supply basic equipment to set up food processing facilities such as a shredder, drying equipment, grinder, scale, packaging materials and various accessories. Most of the agribusiness entrepreneurs we support make flour and other food products from breadfruit.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Farmers
Economically disadvantaged people
Children and youth

Working in cooperation with the governments, NGOs, farmers coops, community groups, and other partners in 22 countries. TTFF plants fruit trees, facilitates economic growth in developing nations, combats climate change, and facilitates educations in school systems. This accomplishes our mission to solve global problems of climate change, hunger, poverty and lack of education.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Children and youth
Economically disadvantaged people
Farmers

TTFF donates trees and equipment to entrepreneurs and community groups to produce food products locally; this is preferred to sending imported food from abroad. Then we purchase the food products and redistribute to schools, orphanages and hospitals. We do this for 2 years to allow the groups to streamline their processes and build a customer base.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Farmers
Economically disadvantaged people
Children and youth

We give women the opportunity to start their own businesses as vendors of food products made from breadfruit.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Economically disadvantaged people
Women

Where we work

  • Africa

  • Haiti

  • Jamaica

  • South America

  • U.S. Virgin Islands

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 farmers given information about key markets

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Education

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We hold educational seminars and cooking schools for farmers, chefs, processors, distributors, and community leaders. Less activity in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Numbers are approximate.

Number of books distributed

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Education

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

A new program to supply educational coloring books to young schoolchildren. Through December 2024, over 23,000 supplied. Now in nine languages.

Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Equipment

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We donate equipment to community groups or entrepreneurs to process fruit into post-harvest products. Ultimately they will become self-sufficient businesses.

Number of trees planted

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Fruit Trees

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Through December 2024, more than 350,000 fruit trees of various types, mainly breadfruit, supplied to recipients in Haiti, Jamaica and 20 other countries. Cumulative totals.

Number of meals served or provided

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Feeding People

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We provide breadfruit flour, porridge mix, fritay mix, konparets, bullas and other nutritious foods to schools and orphanages in Haiti and Jamaica. Annual totals.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

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.

We aim to plant 1,000,000 trees within 10 years. A million trees will feed 4 million people sustainably. We intend to increase food production from trees by an order of magnitude and in the process feed hungry people, help to create jobs, and benefit the environment. We are not just delivering food. We are creating food independence. We provide people in developing countries with the ability to feed themselves and create businesses.

Our operating model is extremely simple and easy to understand. We raise funding mainly in the US and Canada; we purchase fruit producing trees in the US, Jamaica, Haiti, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Dominica, Trinidad, Honduras, and Montserrat. We deliver those trees through partnering organizations to individual farmers, co-operatives and a small number of commercial organizations. We work with approximately 50 partner organizations to leverage our already extensive network of contacts at senior levels of government, churches, service clubs and other NGOs.
In addition to planting trees we run other programs specifically intended to keep the trees alive and to increase their value. So for example we run training seminars in local countries, teaching how to propagate, plant and care for fruit trees. We help entrepreneurs to start small businesses by supplying them with food processing equipment. And we buy their processed food product to get them established. Then we distribute the food to schools and orphanages. We also provide the schools and orphanages with educational activity books that teach the value of fruit trees.
These programs are separate but highly integrated, all with the strategy of keeping the trees alive and productive.

Currently we're a volunteer organization with one full-time and three part-time paid staff. We rely on a group of volunteers in the US and also Haiti and Jamaica. We draw great strength from our partners, including the Government of Jamaica, National Tropical Botanic Garden and Three Angels Children's Relief, to name just a few. They provide funding or support in kind that allows us to continue our work at extremely low overhead cost. The founders together work approximately 1.5 FTEs in our office location. We use part time staff in the US, Jamaica, Haiti and Kenya. We use 400 sq.ft. of office space, provided to us at nominal cost by a generous landlord, Karl Lohre Painting Company. We have technology support provided by the founders. Our real strength is our passion and our partner organizations.

To date we have planted over 300,000 trees, mainly breadfruit but also cashew, mango and other food producing fruit trees. We've also delivered 74 kits to produce post-harvest products such as breadfruit flour. We've held numerous in person and online seminars to bring together agronomy experts, academics, farmers, private business, and political leaders in Haiti and Jamaica. We've received dozens of thank you letters, everyone from Government organizations to individual farmers, acknowledging the help we're giving them. We are delighted to report that our successes are scalable from the individual farmer level up to commercial sized food processing business.

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

    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

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

    We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, 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 share the feedback we received with the people we serve

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback

Financials

TREES THAT FEED FOUNDATION
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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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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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TREES THAT FEED FOUNDATION

Board of directors
as of 3/25/2025
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

James Hansford

Trees That Feed Foundation

Joanna Walczak

Kenneth Banks DIRECTOR

Mary McLaughlin President, Chair, Co-founder

Trees That Feed Foundation

Michael K Renetzky DIRECTOR

Nicola Barrett

Milliman

Nyree Zerega DIRECTOR

S Michael McLaughlin Secretary-Treasurer

Trees That Feed Foundation

Organizational demographics

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female

The organization's co-leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Male

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

Disability