Grantmaking Overview

The Better Food Policy Fund invests in US-based food policy councils, empowering community and government collaboration for progressive food policy. We utilize participatory processes to enhance equity and redistribute power in the funding landscape. We seek to celebrate and uplift the work of food policy councils, and believe every food policy council is worthy of financial support.

Our debut grantmaking program launched in the spring of 2024.  This pilot funding opportunity provides ten food policy councils with $60,000 of unrestricted funding to support their work over two years.  Read more about our current grantees.

Who is Eligible for Funding?

Eligible groups are food policy councils in the US working to effect better food policy through civic collaboration. 

We define “food policy councils” as councils, networks, coalitions, or other groups working across boundaries at the tribal, municipal, county, state, or regional level.  

We support actions aimed at ensuring an enabling environment for policy change, such as: 

• increasing levels of inclusive and equitable stakeholder engagement in public processes
• engaging systems thinking when tackling complex food system challenges
• facilitating collaboration with and across local government agencies and departments 
• developing or revising local policies and plans  

We define “better food policy” as practices, procedures, ordinances, laws, etc. of governing institutions which strengthen community-based food systems.

We define “civic collaboration” as people joining together at the intersection of community and government to address public issues.

Eligible applicants may be embedded within government entities, non-profit organizations, and institutions of higher education. Community groups with fiscal agents/sponsors are also eligible to apply.  Please note that individual applicants and community groups without fiscal agents/sponsors are not eligible for this opportunity. 

What is Participatory Grant-making?

At the Better Food Policy Fund, we are inspired by the growing movement in philanthropy to democratize decision making and power in grantmaking processes.  Power dynamics are ever-present in philanthropy.  These dynamics impact who knows about grant opportunities, who receives those grants, and how outcomes of programs and projects are evaluated.  

Participatory grantmakers leading the way in this space talk about these power dynamics, and work to shift them.  They break down barriers, cede control, and democratize their grantmaking strategies.

In short, participatory grantmakers embrace and emphasize “nothing about us without us” – shifting power in grant making decisions to those most directly impacted by the issues they’re trying to solve.

Here’s what that has looked like at the Better Food Policy Fund:

• Since its inception in 2022, we’ve set the Fund’s strategic direction in a participatory fashion that builds capacity for engagement and helps ensure the Fund aligns with the needs of food policy council stakeholders.   Thus far, we’ve engaged 300+ food policy council stakeholders to help co-develop the Fund.
• An Independent Advisory Committee (IAC) provides oversight of the Fund.  The IAC utilizes consent-based decision making to ensure that all voices are heard and all perspectives are considered.
• In our inaugural funding pilot, we utilized two participatory methods to select grantees:  A trust-based nomination process where FPCs were nominated by their peers serving on the IAC, and a random selection lottery of applicants from a pool.
• We are continuing to learn about and experiment with participatory grantmaking practices. Connect with us and be part of the conversation!

Check out our Upcoming Opportunities page for information about upcoming funding opportunities.