Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation

Founding

RWCF began in 2016 when its founders, John deBary and Alex Pemoulie, wanted to create a nonprofit that would advocate for restaurant workers, attempt to change the industry, and provide grants. It took two years to receive tax-exempt status during which the founders worked closely with left-progressive leaders from groups, including One Fair Wage and Lawyers Alliance of New York City. ⁴ RWCF aims to be a community foundation and to raise money from the community it serves. ⁵

RWCF’s 20 board members are split between restaurant workers and people involved in left-of-center social advocacy and the nonprofit sector. ⁴

COVID-19 Response

Restaurant Workers COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund

In March 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic led governments to shut down restaurants, RWCF created the Restaurant Workers COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund. Fifty percent of the fund’s money is allocated to directly providing financial assistance for restaurant workers, while the rest is allocated as “grants to nonprofits providing crisis services like food assistance, pro bono legal assistance, mental healthcare, immigrant-specific help to restaurant workers, and zero-interest loans to small restaurant businesses.” ⁴

At the end of 2020, RWCF had raised approximately $7 million for the Crisis Relief Fund. ⁴ After the pandemic subsided and state governments began allowing businesses to reopen, a growing shortage of workers returning to the restaurant industry emerged; RWCF Executive Director Kiki Louya blamed the shortage on workers weighing other career opportunities and options because they want to leave their low-wage and unstable job. ⁶

COVID-19 Vaccine Advocacy

In New York, restaurant industry groups and coalitions, including RWCF and food journalists, advocated on behalf of restaurant workers to be included in the “category 1b” group as essential workers and permitted to receive COVID-19 vaccinations before the general public. ⁷

Racial Justice Fund

During 2020, Restaurant Workers Community Foundation gained momentum and publicity with its COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund and created the Racial Justice Fund, focusing on race issues within the restaurant industry. The Racial Justice Fund blames former President Donald Trump’s administration for not including undocumented workers in COVID-19 relief plans, therefore, it aims to help undocumented workers of color. The group accuses the restaurant industry of being racist and exploiting people of color and it wants to change the entire system. ⁵

RWCF allocated $100,000 to its Racial Justice Fund to jumpstart the project. ⁸

Steve Ali was appointed as project coordinator of Racial Justice Fund and is also vice-chair of RWCF’s fundraising and development committee. In an interview about his work with Racial Justice Fund, Ali references Black Marxist social justice and the need for “dual power,” which is the idea that “we need to have institutions that exist parallel to the ones that already exist, to ensure that our people are taken care of.” ⁵

Other Activities

RWCF created Restaurant Managers Network to support restaurant managers and advocate on issues, including gender, race, immigration, wages, and work environments. ⁹

In June 2020, RWCF began the Build Up Advisory Group to provide feedback and reports on how to strengthen the organization’s structure. ⁸

Finances and Grantees

Restaurant Workers Community Foundation was not required to file the extensive “Form 990” federal tax return for 2018 and 2019 because it did not raise more than $50,000. It raised more than $50,000 in 2020, however as of July 2021, the IRS tax documents were not yet publicly available. ¹⁰

Grantmaking

When RWCF began in 2018 it raised $11,500 and awarded three grants to left-of-center organizations and labor unions, including Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, Brandworkers International and OutSmartNYC. ⁴ In 2019, RWCF raised $39,000 through corporate and individual contributions, as well as event revenue, and expanded its grant allocation to 11 organizations.

By November 2020, RWCF allocated $5.4 million in grants, with $3.35 million given to Southern Smoke Foundation, a crisis relief organization, $845,000 to 28 nonprofits, and $1.2 million to Ascendus (formally Accion East) to create the Restaurant Futures Loan Program. RWCF has given $200,000 to left-of-center organizations, including One Fair Wage, Make the Road New York, Restaurant After Hours, and Women in Hospitality United. ^{8 11}

Funding

At the end of June 2021, the Black Truffle Festival 2021 was held at participating restaurants across the country with event sponsors donating funds to RWCF. ¹²

In June 2021, RWCF received $1,700 from fundraising efforts by students in the Integrated Business Program through a program in the College of Business and Public Management at the University of La Verne. ¹³

In May 2021, Tequila Don Juan Fund, a charitable initiative that supports the hospitality industry by the tequila brand Don Juan, contributed $125,000 to be split between No Us Without You LA and RWCF. ¹⁴

Dos Equis, the beer brand from Heineken USA, ran a campaign until the end of June 2021, donating $1 of every purchase to RWCF. ¹⁵

Ole and Obrigado, a wine company, splits 100 percent of its profits from selling Liquid Geography Rosé equally between three charities, including TJ Martell Foundation, RWCF, and Wheeling Forward. ¹⁶

Aiden and Louis Ardine, former restaurant workers and brothers from New Jersey, began walking across America on May 1, 2021, to raise money for RWCF. By mid-June 2021, the brothers had raised $20,000 of their $30,000 goal. ^{17 18}

By the end of 2020, RWCF raised over $1 million from a combination of individual donors, corporate givers, donor-advised funds, family foundations and a small number of private foundations, including the United Philanthropy Forum’s Momentum Fund. ⁴ In June 2020, Sonoma-Cutrer, a wine company, donated $100,000 from its sales of Russian River Ranches Chardonnay to RWCF. ¹⁹ In 2020, RWCF received $100,000 from Center for Disaster Philanthropy. ⁸

People

In late 2020, Kiki Louya was selected as the first executive director of RWCF. ⁴  Louya is a chef, entrepreneur, activist, and a Detroit native. She is responsible for leading strategy, new initiatives, and day-to-day operations. She was a contestant on “Top Chef: Portland.” In 2019, Louya was named as one of the “16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America” by The New York Times. Louya has helped to fundraise for organizations, including Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, New York Public Library, and Vista Maria. She served as the economic development manager at Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation and is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Le Cordon Bleu. ²⁰

John deBary, co-founder of RWCF, is an advocate, former bartender, consultant, and creator of a botanical drink line. He is a published writer, featured in publications, including Munchies, Thrillist, GQ, and Bloomberg Pursuits, ²¹ primarily on topics about the restaurant and drink industry and left-of-center topics focused on the gay and transgender community. He maintains his own website where he features his published writing, information about his work with RWCF, and past and current projects. ²²

Alex Pemoulie, co-founder of RWCF, is a restaurant owner and left-of-center activist. She spoke out against former President Donald Trump, using her Seattle-based restaurant to publicly share her political views. Pemoulie donated proceeds from her restaurant to the ACLU and the Indigenous Environmental Network. She also provides her customers with a weekly email newsletter that includes information about political events, lectures, concerts, and more. ²³ Pemoulie is a graduate of the University of Chicago and received her MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. ²⁴