Who We Are
Impact & History
Our programs transform the institutional and cultural environments that both guide food choices and shape attitudes about food, leading to large scale and lasting improvements to our food system.
Funding community-led diet change
We observe that many of the most promising strategies for plant-based diet change are being developed and carried out by community-based advocates. These forms of dietary advocacy benefit from the cultural insights and knowledge these leaders have about their communities, as well as the trust and connections they are able to build.
Community-based diet change initiatives may be based on geographic location, religion, race or ethnicity, or other types of communal identity, and their strategies are unique, diverse, and challenge assumptions about what “effective” diet change activism looks like.
They are also deeply underfunded as a result of systemic inequity in philanthropy at large, combined with the lack of resources available for diet change work more broadly. The Better Food Foundation has helped raise more than $2.5M in grants to community-based advocates who advance dietary change and provide mentorship, technical assistance and fiscal sponsorship services to grassroots organizations.
Through this support, we also strive to spread awareness about community-based diet advocacy and offer consultation and guidance to philanthropists to facilitate greater funding for impactful yet under-resourced projects. Learn more about the groups we have supported:
- AfroVegan Society
- CreatureKind
- The Cypher
- Center for Jewish Food Ethics
- Liberum
- Shamayim
- Vegan SoulFest
- Vegans of LA
If you would like to fund these groups, you can do so directly through their own websites. If you’re interested in partnering with the Better Food Foundation to facilitate funding other groups in alignment with our mission, please reach out to our Executive Director, Jennifer Channin.
Plant-Based by Default
In universities, hospitals, cafes, religious institutions, conferences and events, Plant-Based by Default has been more effective than any other popular intervention at reducing food-related carbon emissions—in pilots and studies, this strategy consistently leads to more than 50 percent of diners choosing plant-based meals. Institutions that have pioneered this impactful strategy in their sectors include New York City Health + Hospitals, Harvard’s Office of Sustainability, Sodexo College Dining Services, and dozens of conferences, catered events, offices and businesses.
Organization’s History
Milk-Free Mornings Breaks New Ground
Our first public campaign, Milk-Free Mornings, launched in 2017 and featured prominent “Mommy Bloggers” such as Heather Armstrong (The Dooce). The video and social media campaign promoted plant-based alternatives to dairy products for breakfast—the meal in which the most dairy products are consumed.
Link between Diet & Climate Change Covered in Media
Our campaigns to raise awareness about the links between diet and climate change have resulted in coverage in Bloomberg, The New Food Economy, San Diego Union Tribune, Sustainability X Magazine and Ms. Magazine.
Plant-Based Nudges Go Mainstream
DefaultVeg’s work, including successful pilots of the strategy in universities, coffee shops, and NYC’s hospitals, has been covered in The New York Times, CounterCurrents, The Oregonian, the National Catholic Reporter, HEATED, and Foodservice Director.
Led Coalition for Truth in Food Labels
In 2020, BFF built a coalition of more than 50 public health, environmental protection, consumer protection and social justice organizations that signed on to a public letter criticizing One Health Certified, a corporate-funded certification scheme that misled consumers into paying premiums for supposedly higher welfare animal products, while it was actually little more than a marketing ploy for the nation’s largest chicken company, Mountaire Farms. The public letter was reported on by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. In 2021 the campaign achieved a major victory: persuading the supermarket chain Giant Eagle to drop the deceptive certification from its 450 supermarkets.
Funding the Movement for Plant-Based Diets
Since 2016, BFF has raised more than $2.5M for community-based organizations and leaders doing unique and impactful work to advance plant-based diets in their communities. These have included faith-based initiatives like the Jewish Initiative for Animals, Shamayim, CreatureKind, and Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministries.
FlipIt
Launched in 2023, FlipIt pioneers a novel approach to communicating about food. Utilizing dynamic social norms language, connecting diet shifts with community-led initiatives for health, food justice, and economic inclusion, and highlighting the links between diet and cultural identity, FlipIt garnered 4.5 million impressions online in its first year.
City Policy
BFF has supported coalition partners working on climate-smart food advocacy in more than a dozen cities, and helped pass and implement plant-forward food policies in San Diego, Denver, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.