The Grace Communications Foundation is a left-of-center nonprofit that promotes informational resources aimed at changing food consumption patterns to lessen what the group considers to be harmful environmental and social consequences from the current food industry. ¹

Founding and History

The Grace Communications Foundation was formed in 1997, but did not receive tax-exempt status, at least in its current form, until 2010. The group maintains several websites that strive to change food consumption habits to fit with what the group considers to be environmentally friendly and socially conscious. One of the group’s most successful products is a series of short, animated videos, called “The Meatrix,” which criticizes factory farming practices and seeks to implement legislative and policy changes. ^{2 1 3}

Finances

In 2023, the Grace Communications Foundation reported revenue of $5,209,850, of which $3,700,000 was received from contributions, $155,041 from interest on cash savings, and $1,309,646 from the net sale of assets. It reported $9,361,356 in capital gains. It reported $10,000,406 in expenses, of which $456,207 was spent on executive and director compensation, $5,455,868 on employee compensation, with an additional $1,676,589 for employee benefits. Additionally, $402,500 was spent on outside public relations. The foundation ended the year with a net loss of $4,790,556, though its net assets still increased thanks to the appreciation of its capital. The foundation did not receive any government grants. ⁴

It is noteworthy that the foundation received most of its assets in 2022, when it received over $100 million in contributions. The year prior to this, it had just over $9 million in assets. It is not clear if one or multiple people provided this funding. ⁵

Projects and Initiatives

FoodPrint

FoodPrint is a website that seeks to provide consumers with information on the “footprint” that their eating habits have in terms of the environment and society. It recommends that consumers take a number of factors into consideration when eating, such as the labor conditions in which the food was produced, the kind of farm that produced it, the treatment of animals, and the amount of resources used. It recommends practices such as the adoption of “meatless Mondays” to reduce meat consumption, and promotes the patronage of local farmers’ markets and local producers to reduce the transport costs of food. ⁶

Meatrix
The “Meatrix” is a three-part short animated series that criticizes factory farming practices. The series, which was originally released in the early 2000s, is a parody of the popular Matrix film franchise. The series won numerous awards and is used to encourage support for consumption changes in viewers, and for advocacy for various pieces of legislation and policy changes related to factory farming. ³

Seasonal Food Guide

The Seasonal Food Guide is a consumer resource that the foundation maintains to provide a searchable database of what foods are locally grown and produced based on location and time of the year. The purpose of this guide is to facilitate consumers eating more food that is locally produced to reduce transport costs and emissions. ⁷

Media Campaign

As “Communications” in the foundation’s name implies, the organization is concerned with changing consumption habits via media. Notably, in 2023 alone, the group spent over $400,000 on outside public relations campaigns. ⁸

The foundation is listed as a major co-funder of the left-of-center philanthropic consulting firm Dietel Pickering and Partners. ⁹

Leadership

Scott Cullen is the executive director of Grace Communications. Cullen is an environmental attorney, and aside from Grace, he is involved in the leadership of other food-related environmental groups, including the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, the Environmental Grantmakers Association, and the Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders Network. ¹⁰

1.  “Food Advocacy.” GRACE Communications Foundation. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://gracecommunicationsfoundation.org/food-advocacy/
2. “GRACE Communications Foundation.” Candid. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/features/nonprofit-spotlight/grace-communications-foundation
3. “About The Meatrix.” TheMeatrix.com. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.themeatrix.com/pages/about
4.  Grace Communications Foundation Inc, Return of an organization exempt from taxation (Form 990PF) Part I, 2023.
5. Grace Communications Foundation Inc, Return of an organization exempt from taxation (Form 990PF) Part I, 2022.
6. “What is FoodPrint?” FoodPrint. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://foodprint.org/what-is-foodprint/
7. “About.” Seasonal Food Guide. Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/about
8. Grace Communications Foundation Inc, Return of an organization exempt from taxation (Form 990PF) Other Professional Fees Schedule, 2023.
9. “Network Affiliations.” Dietel Pickering and Partners.  Accessed March 3, 2025. https://www.dietelpickering.com/network-affiliations
10. “Scott Cullen.” Global Alliance for the Future of Food.  Accessed March 3, 2025. https://futureoffood.org/team/scott-cullen/