Financial Transparency
"Why are you asking for donations if you get the food for FREE?"
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We get this question so often, we decided to give it its own page on the website!
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FoodCommune is a freegan co-op and thus rescues all of our food, i.e., we operate like a junk removal service for people and organizations who have excess food that they want gone. Even though we often do not pay any money directly to the food donor in exchange for the food itself in a given rescue, we do have to pay the costs of rescuing this food. Food rescue has a huge overhead cost. Rescuing food from a landfill and distributing it to people involves finding, picking up, unboxing, sorting, preparing, loading, transporting, storing, refrigerating/freezing, displaying, etc. large quantities of food, which takes a tremendous amount of time AND money.
These daily/weekly/monthly operating costs total approximately $30,000 annually. If you're curious about the details of these costs, you can see the full 2021 budget workup here.
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More information on what we could do with more financial donations here.
2025 Finances Update
FoodCommune finances as of February 2025:
Candler property loan repayment ... $7,200/mo.
Candler property taxes ... $400/mo.
Candler property utilities (electricity, water/sewer/trash pu) ... $400/mo.
Vehicle (van) $0.67/mile x 6,000 miles/yr = 4,020/yr ... $335/mo.
Food from fellow rescuers ... $400/mo.
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Other misc expenses ... $2,000/mo:
-- equipment like coolers, bins, crates, tarps, bungees, buckets, yard tools, power strips, cable locks, hand trucks, extension cords, headlamps, vehicle jack, tire pump.
-- supplies like cleaners, sponges, knives, scissors , packing tape, Ziploc bags, magic markers, pencils, binders.
-- materials for property repairs like the house roof repair in early 2024, the old shed roof repair in mid-2024.
-- tips to drivers.
-- materials for property upgrades like indoor shelving, outdoor electricity (trenching to run electricity out to old shed then Jo's shed), outdoor overhead lighting, gate at front entrance.
-- trailer costs, eg tag fees, tires.
-- cell phone.
-- GA annual registration fee.
etc
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7200+400+400+335+400+2000 = $10,735 <-- current FoodCommune monthly expenses.
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We are not externally funded. Our only revenue is from Saturday shoppers = $4,000--5,000 per month.
$10,735 <-- expenses per month.
- 4,735 <-- revenue per month.
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$ 6,000 <-- debt per month.