Farm to Fork Foundation is a left-of-center organization that creates communication strategies for organizations seeking to lobby governments to increase entitlement spending on food services. 1 The organization also assists left-of-center environmentalist organizations with federal lobbying strategies. 2 Farm to Fork Foundation is a project of the Windward Fund, a left-of-center environmentalist and conservationist grantmaking and project-sponsorship organization managed by Arabella Advisors, a left-of-center consulting company. 1
While the Farm to Fork Foundation is technically a project of the Windward Fund and receives its resources from that organization, multiple left-of-center organizations have earmarked their contributions to the Windward Fund for the Farm to Fork Foundation’s expenses. In 2017, the California Endowment made $100,000 in contributions3 and the Claneil Foundation made $25,000 in contributions to the Farm to Fork Foundation. 3
Advocacy
2019 Budget Deal
The Farm to Fork Foundation advocated for increasing the congressional non-defense discretionary spending caps for a variety of environmentalist and entitlement programs including agricultural research, farm credits, nutrition programs, water, and entitlement spending in the 2019 federal spending bill. 4
2018 Farm Bill
The Farm to Fork Foundation worked with a number of environmentalist organizations and successfully advocated for maintained funding for environmentalist programs and increased entitlement spending on government-controlled food programs in low-income neighborhoods though the 2018 Farm Bill.
In a letter thanking U.S. representatives and senators for their work on the 2018 Farm Bill, the Farm to Fork Foundation’s lobbying partner, the Environmental Working Group, issued a statement thanking a long list of Democratic legislators, listing only three Republicans among them. 6
Messaging Guide
In 2017, the Farm to Fork Foundation produced a nine-page manual with data and communication strategies to aid state and local organizations in advocating for increased government entitlement spending on food policies and services in low-income neighborhoods. 7
The manual instructs state and local organizations to urge the expansion of government-controlled food policies by “tap[pping] into a sense of pride and belief that our food system should be the best in the world” and “establishing” the activist organization’s policies as “the path to achieving that vision.” 7
The manual cautions readers to focus on key terminology from groups opposed to entitlement expansion and provides rebuttals to those positions. The manual highlights the opposition point that 78% of Republicans and 57% of Democrats believe that people should be personally responsible for what they eat and drink, without government intervention. The manual goes on to provide talking points to attempt to undermine this position. 7
While produced under the Farm to Fork Foundation name, the manual was created by the Democratic-Party aligned political consulting and strategy firm Spitfire Strategies. 8
Leadership
As a project of the Windward Fund, the organization does not have a staff list. Lee Bodner is the current chairman of the Windward Fund. 9
To support philanthropic effort to build the Global Methane Hub to reduce methane emissions in the fossil fuel, agriculture, and waste sectors around the world.
The Bezos Earth Fund announced a $10 million grant to Windward Fund's Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice program for helping underserved communities transform into environmentally safe, climate-resilient geographies with economic opportunities.
