| Form 990, Part VI, Line 11b: Form 990 Review Process |
The Form 990 is drafted by an outside CPA, and then reviewed and approved by management, in consultation with their outside bookkeeper, and by the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors. Before the return is filed, a copy is made available to each board member. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 12c: Explanation of Monitoring and Enforcement of Conflicts |
Officers, Directors, and staff are required to complete a Conflict-of-Interest disclosure form each year. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 15a: Compensation Review & Approval Process - CEO, Top Management |
The Executive compensation review and approval is based on research of comparable compensation and duties, is reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors, and their deliberation is contemporaneously documented in a semi-private log of the minutes of the Board of Directors. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 15b: Compensation Review and Approval Process for Officers and Key Employees |
Compensation for other officers and key employees is determined by the President/CEO using, among other objective criteria, a comprehensive survey and comparison of similar positions in other nonprofit organizations. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Line 19: Other Organization Documents Publicly Available |
Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are maintained at the organization's corporate office and are available to the general public upon request. In addition, the audited financial statements are available at www.mazon.org. |
| Form 990, Part XII, Line 2: Change of Oversight or Selection Process |
The process has not changed from the prior year. |
| Form 990, Part III, Line 1 - Organization's Mission (Continued) |
For more than 30 years, MAZON has been committed to ensuring that vulnerable people have access to the resources they need to be able to put food on the table. MAZON is a leading voice in the United States and in Israel, on anti-hunger issues, especially those that involve populations or problems that have been previously overlooked or ignored.MAZON recognized the importance of ensuring that food insecure Americans and Israelis have access to nutritious food now, while also working to develop and advance long-term solutions to hunger. |
| Form 990, Part III, Line 4a-Program Service Accomplishments(Continued) |
MAZON is committed to shining a spotlight on issues and populations where the government and larger organizations have yet to turn their focus. The mainstream response to hunger leaves the unique hunger challenges of too many Americans overlooked, underfunded, or disregarded, including by government nutrition supplement programs like SNAP and WIC. MAZON understands that blanket solutions won't meet the needs of every community, and that sometimes, special focus is required to remove the unique barriers some of our most vulnerable communities face in accessing adequate, nutritious food. This work requires vision, patience, and resilience. It is not often easy to bring something out of the shadows, to acknowledge that it has been ignored, and to declare that it deserves requires the support of a broad coalition of organizations and policymakers.Unique Barriers Require Unique Solutions:MAZONs Jewish values have led us to a unique role in the anti-hunger movement: working to support under-addressed issues and communities. Not only does MAZON shine a spotlight on these pressing concerns; we draw the attention of policymakers, anti-hunger organizations, and the public to the unique roadblocks standing in their way to food security. Our work ensures that there are meaningful and lasting solutions that overcome these challenges. This strategy requires MAZON to be nimble and able to identify which issues need our particular expertise and for how long. Currently, MAZON is spotlighting the unique barriers facing communities such as: currently-serving military members and their families; veterans; Indigenous peoples; single mothers; LGBTQ older adults; and the people of Puerto Rico and the territories. MAZON listens to, learns from, and works in solidarity with these historically marginalized populations to realize change through three inter-related strategies:Advocacy: For 37 years, MAZON has been the leading Jewish voice in advancing lasting policy solutions to reverse the course of hunger in this country. MAZONs advocacy and expertise has led to meaningful change for Americans of all faiths and backgrounds. From drafting and championing critical policies in important legislation, to testifying to Congress, to hosting meaningful conversations with legislators MAZON is a strong advocate speaking truth to power at every level of government.Education: MAZON works closely with synagogue partners, schools, and community organizations to educate individuals and communities about the scope of hunger and how we can work together to end it. Through groundbreaking experiential education programs and activities like This is Hunger and its innovative new virtual experience, The Hunger Museum, MAZON is shifting the narrative about who is vulnerable to hunger and why. We are creating a powerful network of anti-hunger advocates across the country.Capacity-Building: Throughout MAZONs history, we have invested in system-changing efforts across the nation, recognizing that states have a great deal of import and influence in helping to ensure that all those in their communities can feed themselves and their families. MAZON makes deep, multi-year investments in emerging anti-hunger organizations across the United States, partnering with them to advance public education, community organizing, and policy proposals to eliminate hunger.FY 2022 Highlights:For nearly a decade, MAZON has been leading the national effort to address hunger among currently serving military families by advancing policy solutions to remove barriers to nutrition assistance and explore ways that families can connect with available benefits. Since the release of MAZONs groundbreaking 2021 report, Hungry in the Military: Food Insecurity Among Military Families in the U.S. that spotlighted recommendations for critical policy changes, there have been significant advancements on this issue. Perhaps most importantly, MAZON was instrumental creating the Military Family Basic Needs Allowance, which was enacted with bipartisan support in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We have been working closely with our partners to push for the improvements to the program necessary to ensure the program is implemented as expansively as possible. MAZONs work has also resulted in a sea change in the attitudes of Pentagon leadership about military hunger. Most notable was Secretary Lloyd Austin's November 2021 press conference, at which he acknowledged the challenge of food insecurity faced by military families, called for an agency review of the issue, and directed Department of Defense actions to address economic security in the Force. In July 2022, the Defense Department released its report Strengthening Food Security in the Force: Strategy and Roadmap, which is a direct outcome of MAZONs years of advocacy on this issue at all levels of government. This shift is particularly significant within the broader context of longstanding Pentagon hostility to basic recognition of this problem. MAZONs support of Native-led policy change to advance food security and food sovereignty in Indian Country is rooted in the recognition that Tribal Nations are sovereign and self-determining nations. MAZON uses its voice and influence with federal and state policymakers to elevate and amplify its Native partners concerns about and solutions to achieve food security and food sovereignty in Indian Country. In light of the complex historical and contemporary challenges to Native American food access and health disparities, MAZON supports Tribal self-determination and believes that Tribal leaders are best positioned to feed their own people. We partner with Indigenous advocates and communities to strengthen food systems in Indian Country and improve access to healthy and traditional foods by advancing Native-led policy change at the federal, state and Tribal levels. One of the highest priorities for our Tribal partners, and so for MAZON, is securing full, direct, Tribal administration of all federal food assistance programs. The sovereign status of Tribal Nations is too often bypassed and ignored in the administration of federal food assistance programs. Allowing Tribes to directly administer these assistance programs would provide them the same flexibilities that states would have to manage the programs and shift resources when necessary during a crisis, such as COVID-19. |
| Form 990, Part III, Line 4a-Program Service Accomplishments(Continued) |
MAZON is concerned about food insecurity among LGBTQ older adults, who often face unique and persistent challenges to accessing services through the charitable food network, in addition to mounting barriers to federal nutrition safety net programs. In June of 2020, we partnered with the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law on their study on the lived experiences of LGBTQ adults experiencing food insecurity, funding a special section of the report focused on LGBTQ older adults over age 50. We are working now to build upon this research to build awareness of, and advance policy solutions to, the various barriers LGBTQ seniors experience in accessing food assistance. MAZONs Vice President of Programs Mia Hubbard was recently featured on the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research's (CLEARs) Finance Chat podcast about food insecurity in the LGBTQ community, as we work to build awareness of this particular population and the unique barriers its members experience in accessing food.MAZON is committed to confronting the painful reality of food insecurity among veterans urging policymakers to understand the unique needs and barriers facing the men and women who served our country. Much of this focuses on uplifting and advocating for legislation and programmatic solutions to close the veteran SNAP participation gap, including adjusting SNAPs consideration of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability ratings, supporting veteran SNAP outreach initiatives, and exempting veterans from work requirements for the purposes of qualifying for SNAP. MAZONs Vice President of Public Policy, Josh Protas, testified in May 2022 before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, highlighting the critical need to improve access to and enrollment in SNAP and outlining opportunities for legislators to support veterans facing hunger.MAZON will be providing a training to the national cohort of sponsors working through the Expiring Term of Service Sponsorship Program (ETSSP), which pairs veterans who have been in civilian life for some time with newly transitioned veterans. The training will focus on how to identify food insecurity among veterans and how to connect veterans to the resources available to them. MAZON is also launching trainings about veteran food insecurity in partnership with Combined Arms and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University. MAZON recently produced an online training module for veteran service providers and caregivers about veteran food insecurity, available through the platform PsychArmor. We are now working with PsychArmor to build a wider audience for the training. MAZON also worked with the VA to develop and distribute a Quick Start Guide resource about food insecurity and nutrition for veterans.Broadly, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the hunger crisis in America, and single mothers are no exception. National data estimates that 80% of single parents in the U.S. are women, and 40% of these single mothers are experiencing food insecurity. Rising food prices, the cost of childcare, and state restrictions have all posed disproportionate economic setbacks for single mothers that create additional barriers to accessing food. MAZON is focused on preventing any additional hurdles to SNAP eligibility criteria for single mothers and advancing legislation that properly addresses the childcare cost component. With many school districts still operating under a hybrid model of in-person and virtual learning, many single mothers are forced to decide between working and caring for children. For some single mothers, the cost of childcare outweighs the gross pay they earn, making it difficult, if not impossible, to continue working while their children learn from home.In the wake of the pandemic in March 2020, MAZON quickly adapted its educational programming to a digital format, and has been offering a virtual, facilitated This Is Hunger experience to educators and communities across the nation. MAZON aimed to deepen these existing relationships and expand this reach in 2021. MAZON has presented its facilitated, digital This Is Hunger experience to dozens of synagogue, day school, and religious school groups, as well as established partnerships with organizations such as Repair the World. In addition, MAZON will launch its new project, an entirely-virtual experience The Hunger Museum in December 2022. Set against the political, economic, and cultural influences that have led to the striking disparities that exist today, MAZONs virtual Hunger Museum will provide 100 years of historical perspective to reveal the cycles of expansion and dismantling of the American social safety net and chart a path forward for a stronger, effective, national commitment to ending hunger once and for all. The Hunger Museum will open December 2022, with MAZON offering both private and public virtual tours soon thereafter.This year, MAZON has also reinvested in state-based synagogue organizing efforts. State-based leadership in addressing hunger policy has become an even more urgent focus in the last few years, as polarization continues to grow and advancing policy at the federal level has become increasingly difficult. It is likely that individual states will have to design and develop policies to respond to food insecurity, and it is all the more imperative to ensure that states do not embrace or compound federal cuts in resources. As such, MAZON has deepened its investments in building state-based advocacy leadership to address hunger, fostering a network of anti-hunger grasstops and grassroots leaders from the Jewish community through synagogue organizing. MAZON engages and trains synagogue partners, transforming them into effective centers of power to advance the interests and dignity of those struggling with food insecurity. Our synagogue partners learn that advocacy is rooted in Jewish values and that an organized Jewish community plays a critical role in the fight against hunger. Through this work, strong local leaders emerge, congregations experience meaningful civic engagement, and they acquire an understanding of the complex causes of hunger and the programs and policies that address its solutions. Through MAZON, these Jewish leaders forge new alliances to address hunger at the state and local levels and elevate the importance of ending hunger in their local communities.MAZON recognizes the importance of ensuring that all Americans can access nutritious food now, while also working to develop and advance long-term solutions to hunger in America and Israel. To that end, MAZON supports anti-hunger and advocacy programs in local communities across the United States and uses its influence and resources at the state and national levels to help people who are at risk of hunger. Since its founding, MAZON has helped to build one of the strongest, most effective anti-hunger networks in the country. We seek now to build on that successful foundation, by strengthening the anti-hunger movement in those places where it is weakest, and the populations are most vulnerable to hunger. MAZONs most recent partnership grants expanded our Emerging Advocacy Fund to a total of 51 partner organizations in 19 states and Puerto Rico. Our goal for these investments is to nurture a community of anti-hunger advocates who are interconnected and motivated to share best practices, successes, challenges, campaigns, resources, and technical assistance. This year, MAZONs partner organizations continued to advocate for programs and policies to alleviate hunger in their states with a particular focus on equity. Many of them did so within the context of political environments that remain very difficult for, if not hostile to, the advancement of anti-hunger policy. MAZONs partners in these states often face uphill battles, but they remain committed to their work and the people they serve and they are supported in these efforts with the knowledge that MAZON is invested not only in seeing immediate gains, but in building their capacity for long-term success. In addition, MAZONs Quick Reaction Fund enables us and our partners to respond quickly to opportunities in the public and legislative spheres, providing the anti-hunger movement with rapid access to small investments of revenue that can help capitalize on these opportunities, outside of normal, lengthier grant processes. MAZONs Quick Reaction Fund was an important resource to partners across the country during the 2018 Farm Bill negotiations, and we expect this coming year's Farm Bill cycle will provide ample opportunity for support as well.Total program expenses: $6,359,323 |
Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.