June 2025 Funding | $656,600
The Foundation is excited to announce another round of funding, totaling over $650,000 and reaching 6,294 people! Whether a long term partner like Chef Ann Foundation or two brand new partnerships like Kawadah Farms or Kumasi Drinks, these organizations are working to transform our food system by supporting both smallholder farmers and students around the world.
Chef Ann Foundation| United States
The Foundation’s longterm parter, Chef Ann Foundation, which promotes scratch cooking in schools across the United States, will receive a 1-year, $300,000 grant to support 8 fellows in the Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship program (HSFP). This fellowship is a 13-month program designed for mid-level school food professionals—like chefs, site managers, and supervisors—who are committed to transforming school food systems to be healthier. This program was developed in response to a needs assessment report conducted by the Food Institute Group in collaboration with the Chef Ann Foundation, which identified the current gaps in approaches in school food transformation. This project aims to address the critical workforce development gap in school food systems not currently addressed by other programs.
Kawadah Farm | Liberia
Smallholder farmers across West Africa face significant challenges, including limited access to infrastructure, farming techniques, and advanced food processing technologies, making it difficult to sustain their livelihoods. Kawadah Farms Liberia (KFL) is a for-profit social enterprise in Liberia that sources cassava, soybeans and gari (processed cassava) from Liberian smallholder farmers. Kawadah Farms Liberia will use their 3-year, no-interest loan of $290,000 to increase processing capacity so they can expand their network to reach 5,000 more farmers, provide training and small tool loans to increase farmer production and increase smallholder income in Liberia.
Kumasi Drinks | Cote d’Ivoire
Kumasi Drinks is a for-profit social enterprise that creates additional income for smallholder farmers in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire by sourcing cocoa fruit juice— a byproduct of cocoa bean harvesting that is typically discarded— and transforming it into a marketable beverage. As a first time partner, Kumasi Drinks will recieve a 1-year $66,600 loan to bring online its Côte d'Ivoire supply chain, starting with cocoa juice purchases from 231 farmers to fulfill the needs of Ivorio, a leading juice brand in West Africa. In future cycles, they expect to grow their sourcing capacity through the Ivorio partnership and reach 1,286 farmers over the next 3 years.