Spoonfuls Inc.
Delivering Food with Purpose
Spoonfuls Inc.
EIN: 27-1810597
as of October 2024
as of October 15, 2024
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reports Download other documentsWhat we aim to solve
The USDA estimates that between 125 and 160 billion pounds of food in the United States goes unsold or uneaten each year, representing a staggering 30% to 40% of the food supply. At the same time, 34 million Americans are experiencing food insecurity, including more than 550,000 Massachusetts residents. Spoonfuls addresses these twin issues by recovering good food that would otherwise go to waste and providing it to people who don't know where their next meal is coming from.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Food Recovery and Hunger Relief
Spoonfuls addresses the twin challenges of food waste and food insecurity. Our innovative approach is to establish partnerships with grocery stores, farms, and other food retailers to recover excess food that would otherwise go unsold or uneaten and deliver it on the same day to a network of nonprofits that provide it to people in their communities struggling to obtain enough to eat. Spoonfuls promotes health equity by focusing on recovering and distributing foods that are critical to good health, with 65% composed of fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy. We have invested in a fleet of refrigerated trucks to maintain the cold chain and enable same-day pick-up and distribution of perishable food.
Spoonfuls operates in Greater Boston, MetroWest, Hampden County, and Worcester County. Each year, Spoonfuls recovers and distributes more food than it did the previous year. In 2023, Spoonfuls recovered a record 4.3 million pounds of food that benefitted a record 370,000 people.
Where we work
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total pounds of food rescued
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Food Recovery and Hunger Relief
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of food donation partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Food Recovery and Hunger Relief
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Spoonfuls' goal is to minimize the human and environmental impact of wasted food by recovering good food that would otherwise go to waste and providing it to people experiencing food insecurity. We deliver food with purpose, with our triple bottom line focused on people, planet, and the economy:
People -- we ensure perfectly good food that is otherwise destined for composting facilities or landfills ends up instead on the dinner tables of people experiencing food insecurity.
Planet -- When food goes to waste, all the energy and water it took to grow, harvest, transport, and package it is also wasted.
Economy -- Spoonfuls provides an alternative to traditional waste disposal methods that keeps the value in food. The value of the food we recover and distribute is more than $9 million each year.
The food Spoonfuls recovers and distributes is perfectly good to eat but is taken off the shelves for a variety of reasons. For example, produce may no longer meet the store’s aesthetic standards, such as when fruit develops slight blemishes; food may be nearing its expiration date; it may have packaging misprints, such as upside-down labels; or the store may simply have ordered too much of a particular item.
Spoonfuls focuses on recovering a majority of fresh, healthy fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy, the foods most important to good health but also the foods most difficult to obtain for those experiencing food insecurity. We do not “warehouse” food for later distribution – our temperature-controlled trucks are empty when they leave in the mornings and they are empty when they return at the end of the day, ensuring the perishable food we recover ends up on people’s dinner tables while it is still fresh, healthy, and delicious.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Spoonfuls’ food recovery and hunger relief operation is built on establishing close partnerships with grocery stores and other food retailers that provide us with food donations, and the nonprofit organizations that distribute this food to people in their communities experiencing food insecurity.
For food retailers, partnering with Spoonfuls provides an opportunity to reduce food waste, give back to the community, and ensure good food that would otherwise go unsold is instead helping to alleviate food insecurity in Massachusetts.
For our nonprofit partners, Spoonfuls' deliveries of good, healthy food at no cost are a reliable and consistent source of fresh food for the people they serve. Our service is free, enabling our nonprofit partners to provide fresh food options to people while spending less of their limited budgets on purchasing food for distribution.
Our focus is on fresh, perishable fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy, which are some of the most frequently wasted foods as well as the most expensive and out-of-reach for those for those experiencing food insecurity.
Since 2010, we have diverted more than 32 million pounds of good, nutritious food from the waste stream and provided it to our neighbors in need.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Spoonfuls prioritizes reliability, efficiency, and relationships, which are the pillars that support Spoonfuls’ primary goal: diverting perfectly good food from the waste stream and providing it to people who do not have enough to eat. Spoonfuls has developed unique capabilities in undertaking this work:
– We have particular expertise in logistics management, a critical capability in coordinating food collections and distributions involving 280 partners.
– We have built a network of 91 food retail partners that provide donations of excess food, and 189 nonprofit partners that distribute this food to people in their communities experiencing food insecurity.
– We have built a professional, 15-member, Serv-Safe-certified frontline Food Recovery Team instead of relying on volunteers, ensuring consistency and reliability.
– We have developed an efficient, sustainable, scalable, and replicable operating model that enables Spoonfuls to thoughtfully and successfully expand into new regions and communities.
– We have assembled a fleet of ten refrigerated food recovery trucks (including one backup vehicle).
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since its founding in 2010, Spoonfuls has grown from a single truck serving Downtown Boston to nine food recovery and distribution routes in Eastern, Central, and Western Massachusetts: five in Greater Boston, two in MetroWest, and one each in Worcester County and Hampden County. Every year since its founding, Spoonfuls has recovered and distributed more food than it did the previous year. In 2023, we recovered/distributed a record 4.7 million pounds of food; our goal in 2024 is 5 million pounds.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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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
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, 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 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
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2023 info
2.20
Months of cash in 2023 info
1.3
Fringe rate in 2023 info
23%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
Spoonfuls Inc.
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
This snapshot of Spoonfuls Inc.’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
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Business model indicators
Profitability info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | $130,733 | $1,262,854 | $619,521 | $282,736 | $243,565 |
As % of expenses | 1.7% | 14.4% | 6.3% | 2.4% | 1.9% |
Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | $30,066 | $1,156,686 | $496,012 | $135,947 | $81,540 |
As % of expenses | 0.4% | 13.0% | 5.0% | 1.1% | 0.6% |
Revenue composition info | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $7,815,305 | $9,696,774 | $11,326,279 | $12,396,242 | $12,456,171 |
Total revenue, % change over prior year | 12.4% | 24.1% | 16.8% | 9.4% | 0.5% |
Program services revenue | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Investment income | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
Government grants | 0.0% | 0.0% | 2.2% | 1.4% | 0.7% |
All other grants and contributions | 99.6% | 99.1% | 97.5% | 98.5% | 98.5% |
Other revenue | 0.4% | 0.9% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.5% |
Expense composition info | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total expenses before depreciation | $7,608,572 | $8,769,420 | $9,812,733 | $11,781,423 | $12,979,943 |
Total expenses, % change over prior year | 19.0% | 15.3% | 11.9% | 20.1% | 10.2% |
Personnel | 14.8% | 16.7% | 19.0% | 21.7% | 21.5% |
Professional fees | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.5% | 3.0% | 3.0% |
Occupancy | 1.0% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.2% |
Interest | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Pass-through | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
All other expenses | 82.9% | 81.3% | 78.6% | 74.4% | 74.2% |
Full cost components (estimated) info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total expenses (after depreciation) | $7,709,239 | $8,875,588 | $9,936,242 | $11,928,212 | $13,141,968 |
One month of savings | $634,048 | $730,785 | $817,728 | $981,785 | $1,081,662 |
Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 | $317,145 | $144,032 | $0 |
Fixed asset additions | $188,503 | $246,142 | $0 | $184,655 | $395,851 |
Total full costs (estimated) | $8,531,790 | $9,852,515 | $11,071,115 | $13,238,684 | $14,619,481 |
Capital structure indicators
Liquidity info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Months of cash | 0.6 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 |
Months of cash and investments | 0.6 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 |
Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | 0.2 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 1.3 |
Balance sheet composition info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cash | $401,513 | $1,493,657 | $1,734,375 | $2,144,433 | $1,381,453 |
Investments | $1,948 | $2,630 | $12,529 | $20,998 | $26,765 |
Receivables | $705,533 | $204,245 | $1,080,951 | $1,186,771 | $800,237 |
Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $525,731 | $580,882 | $607,042 | $791,698 | $998,363 |
Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 54.3% | 34.6% | 44.7% | 52.8% | 39.2% |
Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 45.7% | 25.1% | 7.7% | 21.8% | 19.1% |
Unrestricted net assets | $156,744 | $1,313,430 | $1,809,442 | $1,945,389 | $2,026,929 |
Temporarily restricted net assets | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Permanently restricted net assets | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Total restricted net assets | $599,000 | $263,500 | $1,157,525 | $1,489,608 | $677,611 |
Total net assets | $755,744 | $1,576,930 | $2,966,967 | $3,434,997 | $2,704,540 |
Key data checks
Key data checks info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Founder & CEO
Ms. Ashley Stanley
Ashley Stanley is a born and bred Bostonian. Since founding Lovin’ Spoonfuls in 2010, more than 22 million pounds of fresh, healthy food has been rescued and brought into the social service stream. She has created unparalleled awareness for food rescue, with dedication to addressing hunger relief, climate change, and health equity. In 2011, the Boston Business Journal named her an ‘Emerging Leader.’ In 2012, Spoonfuls was a two-time winner of the Mass Challenge competition. In 2013, Ashley was selected as one of the BBJ’s ’40 under 40’ and served as a fellow at The Nantucket Project. In 2014, Ashley was recognized by The Boston Globe as a ‘Game Changer’ and in Boston Magazine‘s ‘Power of Ideas.’ She is an Oxfam International Sisters of the Planet Ambassador, a member of TEDWomen, and a TEDx community speaker. She’s been featured on NPR and written for The Huffington Post.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
Spoonfuls Inc.
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
Spoonfuls Inc.
Highest paid employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
Spoonfuls Inc.
Board of directorsas of 06/14/2024
Board of directors data
Lisa Fall
BSTX LLC; BOX Exchange LLC
Term: 2021 - 2026
Sandy Cades
Communities For People
Ashley Stanley
Spoonfuls Inc
Andy Youniss
Rocket Software
Adam Amontea
Cafco Construction
Adam Kahn
Foley Hoag
Lisa Fall
Chief Executive Officer, BSTX LLC; President, BOX Exchange LLC
Nancy Freed
Prince Lobel Tye
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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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? Not applicable
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/29/2022GuideStar 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
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- 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 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.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- 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 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.