Queer Food Foundation (QFF)
Queer Food Foundation (QFF) is a left-of-center advocacy organization that promotes LGBT representation and “equity” in the food industry through aid programs, public programming, and partnerships in the hospitality industry. The group describes itself as a collective of LGBT individuals in the food-supply-chain and hospitality industries and has partnered with companies and groups in the hospitality sector, including Open Table, the James Beard Foundation, and No Kid Hungry. The group is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a left-of-center nonprofit with a history of supporting socialist and Marxist-aligned movements in Latin America and beyond. 1 2 3
Contents
Background
Queer Food Foundation launched in 2020 as a volunteer collective during the COVID-19 pandemic, founded by food industry professionals including Mavis-Jay Sanders, Vanessa Parish, Gabrielle Lenart, and Jona Beliu to create a year-round platform for “queer people” in food. The organization emphasizes connection across “all intersections of the food system,” from farmworkers to media and hospitality. 4 5
The group’s first program was the Queer Food Fund, which crowdfunded donations from payment apps that would be channeled to “Black queer or trans Americans, age 18 and up” after filling out an online application, in increments of $100. The fund first opened in February 2021 to coincide with Black History Month, and 96 applicants each received $100. 4
Queer Food Foundation aligns with broader left-of-center activism around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), frequently describing its goals as “intersectional.” It advocates structural changes in hospitality workplaces. 6
Activities
Queer Food Foundation runs the Queer Food Fund, a direct aid initiative that has distributed support to Black LGBT individuals facing food insecurity. The fund has also provided resources to community fridges and other distribution efforts. The program is framed as direct aid rather than a traditional grant process and has opened and paused application periods depending on funding levels. 4
Queer Food Foundation also produces public programming and partnerships, including “Queer All Year,” a series promoting the group as a year-round partner rather than a Pride-Month-only cause, and collaborative events with organizations such as No Kid Hungry, the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD), and university hosts. Program aims include networking among LGBT food workers and promoting “equitable” workplace practices in hospitality. 7
In collaboration with the James Beard Foundation, Queer Food Foundation created the “Equity in Hospitality Series,” which addresses recruitment, retention, and customer experience. The program’s target audience includes chefs and restaurant owners, DEl trainers, and other staff with management and hiring responsibilities. 7
Alliance for Global Justice
The Queer Food Foundation is among the many left-of-center organizations operating under the umbrella of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a controversial fiscal sponsor that supports numerous radical-left causes and activist groups. AfGJ has sponsored groups with alleged ties to foreign militant organizations and far-left movements across Latin America and the Middle East. In January 2023, the Washington Examiner reported that the Ford Foundation ceased all grantmaking to AFGJ after ‘years of warnings’ about the organization’s ties to a Palestinian group with terrorist designations under U.S. law. 8 9 3
The Queer Food Foundation is not an independent nonprofit and operates under AfGJ’s legal and tax status; it does not file independent tax returns with the IRS, publish audited financial statements, or disclose its internal governance. The group’s revenue sources, expenditures, and budget scale remain unclear. 9