Making and measuring change in the food system: The perspectives of funders

Given the centrality of philanthropic funding to the work of nonprofit food access and food justice organizations, it is surprising how little we know about how foundations conceptualize and assess their grant-making across the food system. Based on an analysis of interviews with program officers at foundations that support food system interven­tions in New England, this paper describes founda­tions’ initial (and evolving) motivations for grant-making, the outcomes that they expect from investments, and the kinds of information that they see as convincing evidence for such outcomes. At the same time, it explores how program officers’ experiences of responding to the COVID-19 pan­demic and to contemporaneous calls to redress systemic racism have shaped their practices. This paper points to opportunities for new relationships between community-based organizations and foundations, especially as program officers ex­periment with practices of trust-based philan­thropy. It also highlights, however, the challenges posed by philanthropic board members’ assump­tions about quantifiable program outcomes and concerns about supporting overtly “political” work.