Grace Communications Foundation Inc.

Grace Communications Foundation operates primarily as an operating foundation that deploys capital through its own media programs rather than through conventional grant cycles. Its flagship initiatives—FoodPrint.org, the Monday Campaigns (Meatless Monday and Healthy Monday), and a dedicated food-systems communications program—absorb the overwhelming majority of roughly $10 million in annual program expenditures. External grants are a tiny, strategically targeted supplement: the foundation paid just $37,500 to five external organizations in FY2023, and amounts as low as $100 in prior years.

The foundation's giving philosophy centers on communications amplification and collaborative systems change. As stated on its philanthropy page, GRACE "connects and collaborates with grassroots leaders, scientists, funders and others" to amplify partner work and "seed and grow movements." Its external grants flow to organizations that extend GRACE's own programmatic reach: a funder network membership (Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, $27,500), advocacy in GRACE's issue portfolio (Earth Island Institute, $5,000), civic organizing (Virginia Organizing, $5,000), and local education (Rochester Education Foundation, $2,000).

Critically: GRACE does not accept unsolicited proposals. The foundation's website explicitly states, "we do not accept and will not review unsolicited grant proposals for funding." This is an invitation-only funder whose external partnerships develop through programmatic alignment, shared convenings, and earned relationships—not application cycles.

Leadership is compact and relationship-driven. Helaine Lerner serves as President and Treasurer (compensation ~$16,000/year), Scott Cullen as Executive Director and VP ($440,000 in FY2023), and a small board including Brad Goldberg, Judith Labelle, Marjorie Gilbert, Paul Locke, and Marnie Sommer. Scott Cullen is the practical relationship gateway for external organizations.

Organizations best positioned for collaboration combine scientific credibility or grassroots mobilization capacity with strong communications infrastructure. GRACE's core triple nexus is food, water, and energy systems. Geographic concentration among recent grantees skews to CA, NY, and VA—reflecting SAFSF (CA), Earth Island Institute (CA), Virginia Organizing (VA), and Rochester Education Foundation (NY). US-based organizations with national systemic-change ambitions are favored over single-state or hyperlocal efforts.

Grace Communications Foundation's financial profile is deceptively large relative to its actual external grantmaking. With $114.8 million in assets at end of FY2023 and $10.0 million in annual program expenditures, it resembles a major funder—but external grants represent less than 0.4% of total program spending.

Historical external grants paid by fiscal year: - FY2015: $12,452 - FY2019: $1,200 - FY2020: $0 - FY2021: $100 - FY2022: $1,000 - FY2023: $37,500 (5 grants—highest on record)

From the available grantee data, individual grants range from $2,000 (Rochester Education Foundation, 2 grants) to $27,500 (Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders). The average external grant size is $7,900. There is no evidence of multi-year commitments, program-specific RFPs, or capital/endowment grants.

The foundation's real spending is in-house program operations: - Monday Campaigns (Meatless Monday, Healthy Monday, Smoking Cessation): ~$3.0M program spend - Communications Program (food systems content, agroecology, aquaculture, environmental justice): ~$2.55M - FoodPrint.org (web content, podcasts, water footprint calculator, K-12 curricula): ~$1.57M

Combined program expenditures have grown 48% from $6.77M (FY2015) to $10.0M (FY2023).

The asset base underwent a transformational event in FY2022: the foundation received $103,700,049 in contributions in a single year—likely a major bequest or endowment transfer—pushing assets from $9.2M (FY2021) to $105.4M (FY2022) and $114.8M (FY2023). Net investment income reached $9.56M in FY2023, now exceeding total annual program costs. This financial transformation could eventually support expanded external grantmaking, though no such announcement has been made publicly.

Officer compensation is concentrated in leadership: Scott Cullen's compensation grew from $374,039 (FY2019) to $440,000 (FY2023), representing ~4.4% of annual program expenditures. Total officer compensation was $456,207 in FY2023.

The peers listed here are structural matches based on asset scale and NTEE category (Human Services/K-series food programs), not programmatic peers. Among them, Grace Communications Foundation is unique in its operating-foundation model—nearly all expenditures fund in-house communications platforms rather than external grants.

Native American Agriculture Fund ($180.1M assets, North Dakota) is the largest by assets and operates as a more conventional direct-grant funder focused on Native farmers and ranchers with capital and technical assistance. Organizations seeking grant capital with a shorter relationship runway would be better served applying to NAAF than to GRACE.

GRACE's true programmatic peers are not in this list. They sit in the food-systems philanthropy ecosystem alongside the 11th Hour Project, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's food-systems portfolio, and the Surdna Foundation's Thriving Cities program. GRACE is itself an SAFSF member-funder, signaling its place in that network and providing the clearest on-ramp for aspiring partners.

The defining financial event of GRACE's recent history was a $103.7 million contribution received in FY2022—more than 28 times the foundation's prior annual program budget. This single-year inflow, likely a major bequest or endowment transfer (the donor's identity has not been publicly disclosed), pushed assets from $9.2M at end of FY2021 to $105.4M at end of FY2022 and $114.8M by end of FY2023. Net investment income reached $9.56M in FY2023, effectively funding the entire program budget from returns and substantially reducing dependence on annual contributions ($3.7M received in FY2023).

On the programmatic side, FoodPrint.org launched 15 new podcast episodes in 2022, added "regenerative" label categories to its consumer food guide, and expanded its water footprint calculator with K-12 curricula aligned to middle and high school academic standards. The Monday Campaigns secured major health-system partnerships—Memorial Sloan Kettering, Wake Forest Baptist Health, and Anschutz Medical Center all implemented Healthy Monday programming. A Johns Hopkins collaboration continued focused on expanding Meatless Monday in schools and hospitals.

A Form 990 for FY2023 was filed in September 2025, the most recent publicly available financial record as of early 2026. No major leadership transitions have been announced. Scott Cullen remains Executive Director. Sidney Lerner, an original director and a founding figure behind the Meatless Monday concept, stepped down as director in January 2021. The foundation's contact address remains info@gracelinks.org. No new open grant programs or RFPs have been announced publicly in 2025-2026.

The governing reality for any organization seeking funding from Grace Communications Foundation is unambiguous: unsolicited applications are not accepted or reviewed. The foundation's website states this explicitly. Organizations that submit cold LOIs or unsolicited proposals will not receive a response—and risk permanently closing the door.

For organizations genuinely aligned with GRACE's mission, external relationships develop through demonstrated programmatic alignment and earned trust. The following tactics reflect how GRACE's existing external partners likely came into the foundation's orbit:

• Publish in GRACE's topic areas. FoodPrint.org and Monday Campaigns are content-driven platforms that cite external research and advocacy. Organizations that publish peer-reviewed work, consumer-facing reports, or educational tools on sustainable food systems, regenerative agriculture, aquaculture, environmental health, or food labeling policy will eventually enter GRACE's field of vision naturally.

• Engage at shared convenings. GRACE participates in food-systems gatherings, SAFSF annual meetings, and academic partnerships (Johns Hopkins, Anschutz Medical Center). Attending and presenting at these venues is the most reliable path to meeting Scott Cullen or program team members in a non-transactional setting.

• Join or engage with SAFSF. GRACE's largest single external grant ($27,500) went to Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders. Membership in or active participation with SAFSF places organizations directly in a community where GRACE is a known player.

• Lead with collaboration, not funding. GRACE's stated model is to "amplify the work of our partners." Initial outreach to info@gracelinks.org should propose a specific, concrete collaboration—a co-authored report, a shared campaign amplification, a podcast guest spot on FoodPrint—not a grant request.

• Align to the triple nexus. Every communication should demonstrate how your work connects food, water, and energy systems. GRACE prizes systemic, cross-cutting thinking; siloed single-issue framing will not resonate.

• Be realistic about grant scale. Even if a relationship results in a grant, expect $2,000–$27,500. GRACE's external grant pool totals $37,500/year across five organizations. This funder is a validator and convener, not a major revenue source.