We are living in extraordinary times. The current food and farm system fails communities, harms ecosystems, and perpetuates historic injustices. The status quo—driven by prioritization of profit over people and planet— disproportionately impacts under-resourced communities and threatens future generations by depleting ecological resources and exacerbating the climate crisis.

Grassroots movements, sustainable farmers and land stewards, advocates and entrepreneurs are leading critical efforts to build a more sustainable, fair, and inclusive future of food and farming, but they lack the resources to sustain and scale their visions.

Now more than ever, funders have the opportunity and responsibility to transform the food and farm system through new investment approaches. Now is the time to transcend the silos that are too common in the funding world, embrace learning from peers, field leaders, and impacted communities, and solve for gaps in the funding landscape through increased coordination and communication.

For over 20 years, SAFSF has united funders to invest in sustainable food and agriculture systems. Today, SAFSF is a platform to harness the collective impact of diverse funders through strategic guidance and collaboration to navigate today’s dynamic conditions.

Our new mission is to mobilize diverse capital partners in support of just and sustainable food and agriculture systems. We envision a future where food and agriculture are resilient, just, and democratic.

We advocate for:

Resilience: Agriculture is rooted in climate stewardship, agroecology, and Indigenous knowledge, fostering healthy ecosystems and ensuring food security for generations to come.

Justice: Food systems prioritize equity, eliminate disparities, and center the needs of historically marginalized communities, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), immigrants, low-income communities, and farm and food workers.

Democracy: Food systems are shaped by community empowerment, self-determination, and inclusive participation, ensuring that all voices are heard in the decisions that affect our lives

THEORY OF CHANGE

Our mission is to mobilize diverse capital partners toward a resilient, just, and democratic food and agriculture system. As a non-profit funder network, our Theory of Change reflects how SAFSF seeks to make progress on our mission.

Catalyze Food Systems Change

Working in food and agriculture involves managing complex systems—from production to distribution—while considering farmers, workers, communities, and broader economic, political, social, and environmental factors. This requires coordination and insight from many stakeholders at a local, state, Tribal, and national level, so we need effective networks, coalitions and movement alliances. SAFSF guides funders to better understand the intersecting issues of the food system, the diverse stakeholders and solutions, and the levers that could maximize the impact of their funding. For newcomers, SAFSF provides orientation to the food system. For experienced funders, SAFSF amplifies their work across a broader platform of systems change, fostering collaboration and rippling out impact.

Shift Power

True systems change demands dismantling entrenched power structures that perpetuate the status quo. Philanthropy has often reinforced these structures, sometimes causing harm when aiming to help. Impacted communities have the solutions they need. Real progress requires shifting power, resources, and decision-making to frontline communities and movements so that those solutions can thrive. SAFSF is committed to following the leadership of impacted communities, and cultivating meaningful relationships with advocates, nonprofit, and business leaders toward non-extractive practices in the funding field.

Activate Impact Capital

Achieving systems transformation requires mobilizing and aligning all forms of impact capital across the funding spectrum. SAFSF brings together diverse capital partners across food and agriculture for increased partnership across foundations, investors and investment advisors, community development financial institutions, donor-advised fund holders, regranting organizations, and funding collaboratives toward a shared vision for change.

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BUILDING A STRATEGY MAP FOR CAPITAL PARTNERS

In the next three years, we will focus on helping funders strategically map their efforts to broader systems change. Systems change requires a holistic approach that encompasses culture, policy, economics, and tools. To accomplish this, we will focus on the following strategic priorities:

Building a Culture For Change

We help funders deepen their commitment to social and racial equity, shifting power and resources to impacted communities, and amplifying community-led solutions through narrative and networked communications.

Fuel Policy Advocacy and Movement Building

We organize funders around policy change, helping them understand and invest in solutions that support workers, farmers, consumers and other vulnerable communities in the food system, while identifying trends, gaps, and opportunities for funding policy change and movement infrastructure, including networks, alliances and coalitions.

Expand Capital Innovation

We catalyze investment in climate resilient and equitable food system change, and guide funders toward collaboration across different types of funding tools in order to bridge capital gaps, sustain and scale community solutions, and unlock the resources necessary for systems change.

Guide Trends in Tools and Infrastructure

We monitor and guide conversations about emerging technology, infrastructure, and tools to ensure these efforts empower farmers, foster community ownership, create inclusive markets, and benefit local economies and communities.

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WHAT WE DO

SAFSF builds the capacity of funders in food and agriculture through a three-prong approach:

COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE & RACIAL EQUITY

SAFSF is committed to working for social, racial, and environmental justice and equity in food, farming, and funding. Throughout all of our work with funders, we acknowledge centuries of harm, divestment, and disenfranchisement of communities, including by the field of philanthropy. To that end, our new strategic direction includes a comprehensive Social Justice and Racial Equity Framework to guide our events, services, programs and organizational development. This supplemental framework will continue to evolve as we learn and grow with accountability to the most impacted communities in food and agriculture. More information coming soon.