2021-09-18T17:02:34-07:00 2020-12-31 204994635 IRYNA AC 1000 Broadway 200-G Oakland CA 94607 990 2020-01-01 261743952 Food Empowerment Project FOOD 7077798004 PO Box 24183 San Jose CA 95154 Sharanya Krishna Prasad Executive Dir. 2021-09-16 true Sharanya Krishna Prasad 999009999 Kostyantyn Oreshkov EA P00923916 5104679506 2 AAL1 IAL1 FAL1 2020 2022-09-23 18:48:47Z X Sharanya Krishna Prasad PO Box 24183 San Jose CA 95154 585550 false X foodispower.org X 2007 CA Food Empowerment Project seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one's food choices. 4 3 7 15 0 394409 583513 0 100 352 3539 963 398048 584828 100 1300 0 194138 223240 0 22986 79570 118017 273808 342557 124240 242271 576625 819975 1079 576625 818896 X Food Empowerment Project seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognizing the power of one's food choices. true true 148605 General ProgramOur actions were limited due to the pandemic, but we still connected with supporters coast to coast! In the first couple of months of the year, we participated in 3 in-person tabling events. F.E.P.s work was also featured on podcasts, in interviews, and in online and print articles. Some key publications and media channels that featured our work included BBC, CNN, MSN, Salon, San Jose Spotlight, Oroville Mercury-Register, WFPL Radio, Medium, Food Tank, LiveKindly, Sentient Media, Green Matters, Hip Latina, and Well + Good. Our website content continued to reach hundreds of individuals each week. Our social media presence grew by 6% on Facebook, 10% on Twitter and 33% on Instagram in 2020 compared to the previous year. 62294 Veganism a. Vallejo Healthy Food FestIn the fall of 2020, F.E.P. hosted its fifth-annual Vallejo Healthy Food Fest (VHFF), an opportunity to share the message that healthy food is not only delicious but should be accessible to everyone in Vallejo. Of course, in past years weve hosted this event indoors, but in the midst of a pandemic, we had to think outside the lunch box, so we created a very special event! For three consecutive SaturdaysSeptember 26, October 3, and October 10we offered the VHFF to everyone with Internet access. The event featured cultural performances, music, and inspiring guest speakers as in previous years, but this time it was available far beyond Vallejo. Attendees learned how to prepare such vegan dishes as Chiles en Nogadas, Filipino Beef Steak (Bistek), and Southern-style Collard Greens and Three-Cheese Mac and Cheese. All three days events are available online with English and Spanish subtitles! b. Vegan Lao FoodInspired by our board member Sharon Daraphonhdeth, who is Lao, we also used our social media and monthly enewsletter to call on vegan Lao cooks and chefs to submit recipes for our Vegan Lao Food website that will join VFF and Vegan Mexican Food in helping you eat your ethics while celebrating the foods you grew up with. Lao folks answered the call, and well have more news on this soon! c. Fight for the OceanAnother of F.E.P.s popular annual events is our Fight for the Ocean effort, which we created to help make a difference for our ocean and for those who call it home. Held every year on August 30 (in honor of Dr. Sylvia Earles birthday), Fight for the Ocean has traditionally involved volunteers around the world getting out and picking up litter from beaches and around lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. With most people under lockdown during 2020, however, F.E.P. got creative and posted a list on our website of seven actions participants could take at home, from organizing a virtual documentary screening to downloading a very special coloring page created just for F.E.P. by Caiti Rose, a shark-loving vegan artist who is correcting peoples misconceptions about ocean life through her website, Sharktopia.org. It is all an effort to help others see the connection between their love of seafood and the destruction of the ocean. We also launched a new page on our website in 2020http://fightfortheocean.com/which covers more details on our Fight for the Ocean effort, including those seven actions people can take! 37923 1300 Farm Workers Rights: School Supply DriveAfter visiting farm workers the year before and seeing how much the kids appreciateand needpencils, pens, notebook paper, and other school supplies, F.E.P. founder lauren Ornelas launched our annual School Supply Drive for the children of farm workers in 2013. That first year, we handed out 30 backpacks to farm worker families, and the drive has grown every year. In 2020, the pandemic meant that we had to rethink how wed accomplish the drive (since so many of the steps are usually handled in person). Thanks to your generosity and flexibility, not only was it a success, but we surpassed our goal for the year and delivered 665 backpacks to the children of farm workers! We do not see the School Supply Drive as an act of charity but as an attempt to right yet another injustice taking place against farm workers. They work tirelessly to plant, grow, and harvest the food we all eat, and by providing their children with school supplies, we give these parents and grandparents one less thing to worry about. They know that a good education is one of the keys to a better life, and we are thrilled to be able to provide their kids some of the tools they need to succeed! 11829 260651 true true false true false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 5 0 true 7 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 4 3 false false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true false true true false CA MD WA X X Sharanya Krishna Prasad 7077798004 PO Box 24183 San Jose CA 95154 Sharanya Krishna Prasad Executive Dir. 40.00 0.00 X 58584 0 452 Lauren Ornelas Founder 40.00 0.00 X X 52721 0 1702 Sharon Daraphonhdeth Treasurer 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Elise Ferguson Secretary 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Jeannine Cicco Barker Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 111305 2154 0 false false false 0 37416 546097 583513 0 352 352 0 0 0 0 0 0 1685 722 963 963 0 584828 1315 1300 1300 0 0 0 113566 90853 17035 5678 0 88395 77035 8455 2905 0 4858 4233 465 160 16421 13704 2022 695 0 0 2400 2400 0 0 0 26021 20015 1510 4496 120 120 22776 15288 3093 4395 8170 4016 595 3559 0 13811 11323 1710 778 645 645 0 137 70 62 5 0 0 200 200 1632 555 1039 38 Program Supplies 21269 21269 Recruiting 20190 20190 Miscellaneous Expenses 646 345 144 157 0 342557 260651 58920 22986 367137 410882 200145 400497 0 0 0 0 0 4391 4391 4152 3605 1000 400 800 600 0 0 0 0 0 576625 819975 1079 0 1079 X 576625 818896 576625 818896 576625 819975 242271 X false false false X 138556 276274 353849 394409 583513 1746601 0 0 138556 276274 353849 394409 583513 1746601 552172 1194429 15 22 64 100 352 553 0 4600 10000 923 4032 963 20518 1767672 1200 0.67570 0.65200 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED false false 783 783 259868 260651 52130 13033 false 24489 33933 44652 52130 155204 232806 157 177 1380 783 2497 6122 8483 11163 13033 38801 58202 1000 400 600 600 Form 990, Part III, Line 2: New Services Vegan Filipino FoodF.E.P.s latest recipe bookletVegan Filipino Food (VFF)was printed in English and Tagalog in 2020! Featuring 17 delicious vegan recipes familiar to Filipinx folks, the VFF booklet is a complement to our veganfilipinofood.com website and was inspired by our commitment to provide plant-based resources that reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of our community. In addition to recipes, this beautifully illustrated booklet includes a 10-page introduction covering what veganism is, eating on a budget, the humane myth, three principal reasons people choose to go vegan (for the animals, for the environment, and for their health), and more.Farm Workers Rights: Essential SuppliesThe pandemic was a challenging time for everyone, but especially hard hit were produce workers, many of whom were not supplied with the personal protective equipment (PPE) that they need to stay safe. In response, F.E.P. contacted the farm worker organizations that we work with on the School Supply Drive to determine what farm workers need during the COVID-19 crisis. They told us that in addition to face masks (which many employers were not providing), farm workers needed food and additional school supplies for their children, since students were doing schoolwork at home and didnt have the supplies most schools furnish. The result of this was our Essential Supplies for Essential Workers effort, in which we put out a call for donations. Thanks to an outpouring of supportmore than $10,000 in donationswe were able to provide PPE, food, and school supplies to farm worker families in Californias Central Valley and Sonoma County. In a heartwarming video with recipients speaking Chat (their native language), some of the farm workers thanked F.E.P. for providing food with dignity to those who are working amid a pandemic. Like the school supplies, we provided these supplies not as an act of charity but as a way to give back to these vitally important workers. Farm workers have been, and always will be, essential. Showing up for them is a basic act of justice. Our longstanding commitment to farm worker justice results in a deep trust in the community, which enables us to serve undocumented workers and their families who might otherwise fear for their safety when receiving assistance like this to meet their most basic needs. Thank you for answering their call for critically needed food and supplies. Form 990, Part III, Line 4d: Other Program Services Description OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Farm Workers Rights: School Supply DriveAfter visiting farm workers the year before and seeing how much the kids appreciateand needpencils, pens, notebook paper, and other school supplies, F.E.P. founder lauren Ornelas launched our annual School Supply Drive for the children of farm workers in 2013. That first year, we handed out 30 backpacks to farm worker families, and the drive has grown every year. In 2020, the pandemic meant that we had to rethink how wed accomplish the drive (since so many of the steps are usually handled in person). Thanks to your generosity and flexibility, not only was it a success, but we surpassed our goal for the year and delivered 665 backpacks to the children of farm workers! We do not see the School Supply Drive as an act of charity but as an attempt to right yet another injustice taking place against farm workers. They work tirelessly to plant, grow, and harvest the food we all eat, and by providing their children with school supplies, we give these parents and grandparents one less thing to worry about. They know that a good education is one of the keys to a better life, and we are thrilled to be able to provide their kids some of the tools they need to succeed! OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: ChocolateChocolatethat delicious treat with a bittersweet historycontinues to be one of the most talked-about areas of F.E.P.s work. Sadly, the majority of the worlds cocoa, the key ingredient of chocolate products, is grown and harvested using horrifying labor practices. Its become a controversial issue: even some so-called ethical food companies have been found using cocoa sourced from areas where the worst forms of child labor, including slavery, take place. F.E.P. has been raising awareness about child labor and slavery in the chocolate industry since we were founded in 2007. Throughout 2020, we were the go-to resource in articles and interviews regarding vegan chocolateand how to enjoy it ethically. Speaking of resources, our Chocolate List topped 1,000 companies in 2020, and we continue to add more every month. And we hosted our first-ever Fright Night: The Scary Side of Chocolate, a virtual Choctober fun(d)raiser for Halloween that featured speakers, a cooking demo, trivia, and chocolate prizes. Form 990, Part VI, Line 11b: Form 990 Review Process The Board and Executive Director review the draft 990 before it is finalized and filed. Form 990, Part VI, Line 12c: Explanation of Monitoring and Enforcement of Conflicts The Board is thoroughly vetted through an interview process. We are currently reviewing the Advisory Board and asking individuals to confirm they don't have conflicts. Form 990, Part VI, Line 15a: Compensation Review & Approval Process - CEO, Top Management Board reviews salaries annually and recommends adjustments based on the organization's financial health. Form 990, Part VI, Line 19: Other Organization Documents Publicly Available Available upon request.