FOOD LINK INC

Rescue food, nourish community

Arlington, MA   |  http://www.foodlinkma.org/

Mission

Food Link is a community organization that rescues fresh food, alleviates hunger, and contributes to environmental sustainability. Food Link's vision is a food system without waste, in which everyone has enough.

Ruling year info

2014

Executive Director

Rachel Albert

Vice President

Julie Kremer

Main address

108 Summer Street

Arlington, MA 02474 USA

Show more contact info

Formerly known as

Food Recovery Project

EIN

47-1840355

NTEE code info

Food Service, Free Food Distribution Programs (K30)

Recycling (C27)

Food Banks, Food Pantries (K31)

IRS filing requirement

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

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018.
Register now

Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

30-40% of food goes to waste each year in the U.S. Most wasted food ends up in landfills, producing methane which contributes to climate change. 8% of greenhouse gasses are produced by wasted food. At the same time, 1 in 10 people in Massachusetts experience food insecurity, including 1 in 5 households with children. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this issue, leading to Massachusetts experiencing the highest increase in food insecurity in the United States. Food Link rescues fresh, surplus food that would otherwise be needlessly wasted and delivers it to community organizations providing food free of charge for people facing food insecurity in their community.

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?

Food Collection and Delivery

Food Link rescues surplus fresh food that would otherwise be wasted and deliver it to community organizations serving people in need throughout Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts.

In 2020, Food Link rescued nearly 1.2 million pounds of food. This equals one million meals’ worth of food rescued. Currently, we move 4,000 pounds of food each day with the help of over 250 volunteers. Food Link operates 360 days a year. We tailor our deliveries to meet the dietary, cultural, and scheduling needs of our partners.

Population(s) Served
Age groups
At-risk youth
Economically disadvantaged people
Immigrants and migrants

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
Related Program

Food Collection and Delivery

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Total pounds of food rescued

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

Food Collection and Delivery

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

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.

By 2023, Food Link expects to divert 2 million pounds of food annually from the waste stream and deliver enough food to our community for 1.6 million meals annually.

Food Link tracks the volume of food donations received and delivered through our programs on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis. The organization also surveys partner agencies every year and uses the results to tailor deliveries to each organization, resulting in more appropriate food being delivered.

Food Link focuses its food distributions on communities with unmet need for food, and community organizations that have the capacity and capability to distribute the food to those members of their communities who are experiencing the greatest need. By working with numerous community based organizations Food Link is able to be nimble, to identify where the rescued food would serve the greatest need, and to break down some of the barriers to access of fresh nutritious food.

At the beginning of 2020, Food Link set the goal to rescue 700,000-750,000 lbs of food by the year’s end. Due to the pandemic and the rapid increase in food insecurity, Food Link ended up increasing its overall food rescue to 1.2 million pounds of food by the year’s end, a 90% increase over 2019.

In 2021, Food Link will increase its overall food rescue as it scales to reach the goal of rescuing 2 million pounds of food annually by 2023.

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 collecting feedback from the people you serve?

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

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

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

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

Financials

FOOD LINK INC
lock

Unlock financial insights by subscribing to our monthly plan.

Subscribe

Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our 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.

Operations

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

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.

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.

FOOD LINK INC

Board of directors
as of 3/17/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Nora Mann

Former, Deputy Chief of the Non-Profit Organizations/Public Charities Division, Massachusetts Office the Attorney General

Term: 2020 -

Ivan Basch

Retired, Director of Program Management, MathWorks

Julie Kremer

Vice President & Co-Founder

Judi Bohn

Retired, Special Projects Coordinator, Facing History and Ourselves

Annie LaCourt

Principal, Narrow Bridge Consulting

Shoba Reginald

Science Teacher, Belmont Public Schools

Sandeep Jain

Commercial Loan Officer, Leader Bank

Donna VanderClock

Retired, Town Manager of Weston

Paul Levine

Retired, Morgenthaler Ventures

Matthew Osborne-Smith

Director of the Center for Capacity Development and Senior Advisor, JSI

Kimberlee Schumacher

VP of Partnerships & Services, Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP)

Irene Lee

Product Manager, Peloton Interactive

Wei Hu

Senior Scientist, Blueprint Medicines

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? Yes
  • 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? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • 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 8/26/2021,

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)

The organization's co-leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data