Our Mission & Values

This values-based fund exists to support local, regional, or tribal groups who are working in the US to effect better food policy through civic collaboration. We refer to these groups as food policy councils, which the Food Policy Networks project at the Center for a Livable Future further define as:

organized groups of stakeholders that may be sanctioned by a government body or may exist independently of government, which work to address food system issues and needs at the local (city/municipality or county), state, regional, or tribal nations levels.

We believe food policy councils can set the table for better food policy by:

• Increasing levels of inclusive and equitable two-way civic engagement around food.
• Engaging systems thinking when tackling complex challenges.
• Identifying, mapping, supporting, and appreciating local and grassroots food efforts.
• Facilitating collaboration with and across local, regional, or tribal agencies and government departments.
• Developing or revising local or tribal policies and plans to support community-based food systems.

Our People

The Better Food Policy Fund is a Tides Foundation collective action fund  established in 2022.

The fund is governed by an  Independent Advisory Committee, which interacts with fund stakeholders to help the fund develop over time.

Current donors to the pooled fund include:

• Anonymous individual donors
• The From Now On Fund
• The Smith Edmonds Family Foundation

Our Approach

Since its inception, the Better Food Policy Fund sets its strategic direction in a participatory fashion that builds capacity for engagement and voice and helps ensure the Fund aligns with the needs of food policy council stakeholders.   Thus far, the Fund has engaged 300+ food policy council stakeholders to help co-develop the Fund. We are immensely grateful for the individuals who helped shape the initial direction of this fund.  We view this growing stakeholder audience as the people to whom the Fund’s governing body, the Independent Advisory Committee, is ultimately accountable.

Our Impact

The Better Food Policy Fund thinks about evaluation and measurement through the lens of systemic change. Looking at the big picture, we consider not only what is being attempted, but how the work is done, as well as the byproducts of the work. This approach moves us beyond conventional metrics by seeking to balance quantitative data by lifting up qualitative information to explore the whole picture of how conditions are shifting.

Ultimately, we expect to see more local policies and plans to support transformational community-based food systems.

Along the way, we will look for quiet indicators of forthcoming change, enabling us to measure long-term systemic shifts in the near future. We will work with and through grantees and stakeholders to identify the subtle signals within their work that indicate a more favorable environment for better food policy.

We believe strengthening food policy councils will lead to better food policy through intermediate impacts such as:

• Increased levels of inclusive and equitable two-way civic engagement around food
• Increased identification, mapping, support, and appreciation of local and grassroots food efforts
• Increased collaboration with and across communities, neighborhoods, and local government agencies or departments

We recognize that how things are done – not just what is done – really matters. We are deliberate in our development of the Fund, and have already seen impacts that help achieve our aim of supporting food policy councils. Observed shifts include:

• Increased sense of validation among food policy councils, especially those that work in relative isolation from other food policy councils
• High engagement and reciprocal learning between members and staff of different food policy councils
• Stakeholder participation in trust-based, relational, and at-large nomination processes to select the Independent Advisory Committee
• Initiation of a co-creation effort to develop communication collateral that will support both food policy councils and fundraising efforts