Jim Shipp was just the kind of guy I was looking for to inform my story on how the Fort Bragg Food Bank spends its money. In the years since I met Shipp while I was working at Parents and Friends, I’ve known him to be able to take as objective a view as possible of the local scene. A veteran of the U.S Navy, he’s been involved with numerous local non-profits and we have often talked about their foibles and achievements. I found Shipp in line to get food for a housebound friend he has helped for many years.
“I used to pick up for myself too. Now I make too much money to qualify but I still pick up for this lady,” Shipp said.
He has two jobs. How about the Food Bank?
“It’s a great organization. I’d love for them to offer a greater variety. But I think they do a great job with what they get,” Shipp said.
We talk for a bit about the personalities from the non-profit world who we know. Parents and Friends, for example, has made dramatic geographic and forward moves in recent years. The Food Bank has a narrower mission. But we can see that it also has progressed during the same time period. There is new equipment and more healthy food choices. The Food Bank seems to still be a non-profit that uses everything and wastes almost nothing, as we observe how books, clothes, cardboard and food scraps all get used and reused here. Food is given away down to the last minute it is fresh.
But what do the numbers say? Does the Food Bank really pinch its pennies like Shipp and I seem to think? I decided to do something that reporters often do, compare expenses with administration costs using IRS form 990. Form 990 is one which every non-profit is required to file every year. I acquired the forms using Guidestar.org., choosing at random a variety of local and regional non-profits.
The Food Bank now posts its full audits, annual reports, strategic plans and IRS 990s on its website at www.fortbraggfoodbank.org. I looked up about 20 local and regional non-profits. None of them beat the Fort Bragg Food Bank’s percentage of 97.3 percent going to “Functional Expenses,” as reported on page 10 of every non-profit’s form 990. The rest of that percentage goes to “Management and General Expense and Fundraising Expenses.” Theoretically, this is a difference between spending on the mission and spending on “overhead” and fundraising.
This is really just one way of showing how much donated money goes direct to the mission of the charity. Reporters who have used this metric have also reported that non-profits are not entirely comparable. A variety of regulations, accounting methods and fundraising methodologies come into play, making a non-profit with a simple mission more efficient on paper than one with multiple, complex missions. So go ahead and make this comparison, with the caveat that it’s only a part of the financial story. The latest posted figures are actually three years old from each non-profit, meaning recent changes will create a somewhat different picture, although most show consistent patterns over time.
Food Bank Executive Director Nancy Severy said it shows a lot about how hard the organization works to put every dollar to work.
“This shows 97.3 percent of the revenues go directly to acquiring and distributing the food. We find that we stretch our dollar the furthest to get the most food for our clients by using our funding to locate and acquire donated and other ‘free food’ such as from government programs,” Severy said.
“So our program costs include the cost of maintaining our food acquisition and distribution system — trucks, the warehouse facility, warehouse and distribution staff, drivers etc.”
The Food Bank was started in 1979 by a group of local women, many of whom are still active in community activities. They worked with others in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake and Mendocino Counties to establish a Food Stamp Outreach program. The Fort Bragg group raised funds and managed the Greenwood Trucking Company to buy food in large quantities for distribution through a co-op store. Funding for this program came from North Coast Opportunities and CETA, along with donated space at
650 N. Main St. in Fort Bragg. Mendocino-Lake Food and Nutrition Program became a 501(c3) non-profit corporation in March, 1979, while at this location. Its objective was to distribute food and improve the nutrition of the needy. A popular Food Bank cookbook was developed.
In June of 1981, the program moved offices to 242 N. Harrison St. where it shared space with the CARE Project. Soon, though, it had to move on due to the availability of more commodities under the Temporary Emergency Food Aid Program and the corresponding need for more space. In June, 1982, it moved to 360 N. Corry St. A small storage shed became an office, and the program came to be known as the Food Bank. It soon outgrew this site. In 1984 the Food Bank moved again to 900 N. Franklin St (now my office). At this location, it was designated the commodities distribution center for Mendocino County. The Food Bank had ceased having any connection with Lake County, and so in 1988 the program became officially the Mendocino Food & Nutrition Program, Inc. In May, 1993, the Food Bank moved into its permanent home at 910 N Franklin.
Newcomers are usually surprised at how many people are served and how fast everything moves along nowadays. No Food Bank before 1979? Huh? Shipp and I agree would be unimaginable now. Ditto the other non-profits now vital locally, most of which arose since the 1970s.
How can this be? Our society, which once had the world’s largest middle class, now has one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor in the developed world. Worse, Fort Bragg has lost its primary industries. Thankfully, many local businesses, churches and non-profits already support this charity — and in turn are supported by it.
Shipp and I agree that our town really now needs non-profits for people to survive and thrive, both the givers and the clients. People need to give to the non-profit of their choice and know as much as possible about that non-profit. The Food Bank sure looks like a great choice, both in line and on paper.
“We sure need the non-profits,” said Shipp. “I hesitate to criticize, but then again, we can all always do better.”
There is a change in how Season of Sharing is being administered this year. The Fort Bragg Advocate-News, The Mendocino Beacon and the Fort Bragg Food Bank would like to thank the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for its help in receiving and processing donations — and passing along 100 percent of the funds to the Food Bank — for the past decade and a half. Starting this year, donations can be made directly to the Food Bank. Please make checks out to the Fort Bragg Food Bank and put “Season of Sharing” on the memo line. Mail to Fort Bragg Food Bank, Post Office Box 70, Fort Bragg, CA 95437. Each week, the names of donors from the previous week will be printed in the newspapers unless the donor wishes to remain anonymous.
The following people have donated to the Season of Sharing this year: Jennifer Danner, Larry and Mary Foster, Bill and Barbara Knapp, Dale Perkins, Gerald and Lina Sue Denevi, Francis and Sallie Richards, and two anonymous donors. Total donations as of Nov. 30 are $1,250.
