World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force, Inc.

Ending Hunger & Poverty at the Root

aka WHEAT; World Hunger Education, Advocacy & Training   |   Phoenix, AZ   |  http://www.HungerHurts.org

Mission

The mission of WHEAT is to educate, advocate, engage and empower individuals to action in the fight against hunger and poverty.

Ruling year info

1985

Executive Director/CEO

Dr. Tamera Zivic

Main address

4000 North 7th Street, Suite 118

Phoenix, AZ 85014 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

74-2386488

NTEE code info

Public, Society Benefit - Multipurpose and Other N.E.C. (W99)

Employment Training (J22)

IRS filing requirement

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

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

WHEAT is working to end hunger and poverty at the root, through job skills training, living wage employment, financial sustainability training and more. VALUES: 1) All peoples, throughout the world, have the right to shelter, sustenance and enterprise; 2) It is the responsibility of each of us to ensure that others have these basic needs; 3) Worldwide Hunger is a problem that can be solved; WHEAT is a part of the solution; 4) Education must be followed by action to be effective; 5) Compassion and justice for all, especially the poor, are central to the teachings of all faiths.

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?

WHEAT

The WHEAT organization has been educating, advocating, motivating and empowering individuals since 1979. Over those many years, WHEAT has formed the Clothes Silo - providing free, professional clothing to women; the Hand to Hand Project - a fair trade initiative with global reach; the Management Training program - providing marketable skills in management for living wage positions and staffs SNAP outreach sites throughout Arizona to provide application assistance. WHEAT also serves as the Administrative Agency for the Arizona Emergency Food & Shelter Program's State Set Aside Committee and Apache, Gila, Maricopa, Navajo and Pinal County Boards.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Unemployed people

Where we work

Awards

Princess' Appreciation 2019

Early Head Start

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

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

Average number of service recipients per month

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

Adults, Women and girls, Adolescents

Related Program

WHEAT

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Noted are non-duplicated individuals served by WHEAT in Management Training, Clothes Silo, Fair Trade and ICan Youth Leadership programs.

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.

1) To create an awareness of justice issues, primarily those that are related to hunger and poverty.
2) To sensitize individuals to the various needs and inequalities within our community.
3) To promote sustainable development and lifestyle through innovative programs and projects.
4) To network among individuals, faith communities and community leaders for concrete solutions to hunger and poverty.
5) To provide sources and resources for those seeking information and opportunities to take action.
6) To staff programs that support the achievement of a self sustaining lifestyle for the participants.

• Continuing the implementation of informative leadership programs for leaders on hunger, its effects and solutions and implementation strategies for individuals and groups.

• Actively providing presentations within the community to educate individuals and groups on causes, effects and solutions to hunger, as well as ways they can become involved.

• Maintaining relationships with governmental, religious and social service agencies working with persons impacted by hunger.

• Staffing programs that lead to self sustenance, e.g. WHEAT's Fair Trade store providing access to gifts and goods supporting local and global artisans and farmers, Management Training leading to living wage employment, SNAP Outreach Application Assistance, I-Can Teen Leadership giving teens a chance to overcome barriers, the Clothes Silo and its free, clothing assistance.

• Advocating on issues before the legislature and congress, taking action as an organization and motivating others to action, when necessary, to make positive changes in systems and supports that help alleviate hunger and poverty.

• Promoting volunteer opportunities at all levels of WHEAT and within its programming to provide experiences, in person, with the real people behind the hunger and poverty statistics, supporting the volunteer's passion to help make a difference in this sometimes overwhelming issue.

WHEAT has a well defined and focused board of directors, staff and volunteer team that work hand in hand with the corporate, faith and grassroots community. Each Strategy has its own team dedicated to achieving its goals and objectives.

In 2020, WHEAT:
• Sponsored 160 at risk high school teens in the ICan Youth Leadership Program to support educational and financial awareness
• Trained and Graduated 250 individuals in the Management Training and Mentoring Program – 135 of those are currently making $19 per hour or more at their jobs
• Staffed SNAP Outreach partnerships at 47 locations providing enrollment in nutrition programs to eligible individuals, over 97,000 were served
• Continue to encouraged self-sustenance for artisans and their families living in poverty around the globe, including Arizona, through WHEAT’s Fair Trade initiative providing necessary income for families to feed, clothe and educate themselves through the sale of their handicrafts
• Provided professional business wear, free of charge, through The Clothes Silo to 4,913 women reentering the workforce -
• Presented 27 lectures, trainings and workshops through WHEAT's Speakers’ Bureau via Zoom
…and much more.

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 demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    WHEAT provides services to those in our community who seek assistance with job training, mentoring, SNAP application and more. WHEAT also serves secondary educational institutions, faith communities, small businesses and other social service organizations and agencies who need our assistance through emergency food and shelter funding and referrals to our services. WHEAT encourages individuals seeking opportunities to become involved in programs that end hunger and poverty at the root.

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

    SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Community meetings/Town halls, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees, Zoom conversations,

  • 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, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    Due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, WHEAT's programs pivoted swiftly to accommodate online programming, cohorts meeting in Zoom rooms, providing assistance through mobile (auto) home visits and delivering meals to families in quarantine. This was all possible due to strategic input and planning from the people we serve, the volunteers and community members who are stakeholders in WHEAT and its programming! We closed our brick and mortar sites for a time (some still closed) but never stopped our services!

  • 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?

    The ownership that the community feels for WHEAT's programming and WHEAT, itself, is amazing! We continue to educate, advocate, engage and empower, but always in differing ways depending on the community's needs.

  • 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

World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force, Inc.
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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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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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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.

World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force, Inc.

Board of directors
as of 4/15/2021
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Rev. Elaine Groppenbacher

Community Member

Term: 2021 - 2024


Board co-chair

Heather Brown

Community Member

Term: 2019 - 2022

Jennifer Nelson

Community Member

Colleen Boles

Community Member

Carolyn Murray

Community Member

Kaitlyn Laney

Community Member

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 ? Yes
  • 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? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 03/26/2020

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)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/26/2020

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 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.
Policies and processes
  • 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.