The Bet That Paid Off: FRESHFARM’s Growth Campaign

Three years ago, FRESHFARM launched the Growth Campaign: Investing in Your Food Future, our first-ever effort to invest in our administrative and fundraising capacity. This was a strategic decision to intentionally grow in proper proportion to the larger footprint of our farmers market, food access, food education, and food distribution programs.

As the Campaign comes to an end, we reflect on the growth we’ve experienced over the past years and thank the believers in this unique effort.

The Believers

An organizational capacity campaign asks supporters to trust that an investment today will lead to greater impact down the road; that requires a leap of faith that many funders and donors are reluctant to take.

“When we launched the Growth Campaign, we were fortunate to have the confidence of a group of long-time supporters — some who made multi-year pledges — who know that real impact takes time and investing in systems change takes trust,” said Lina Salazar, FRESHFARM Senior Manager for Donor Engagement.

Our supporters understood something that the nonprofit sector doesn’t say loudly enough: you cannot pour from an empty cup and you cannot build a resilient food system on under-resourced organizations.

In line with their trust-based approach to philanthropy, the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation — a funder since 2019 — was the first major supporter of FRESHFARM’s Growth Campaign. Clark Foundation President & CEO Joe del Guercio shared: “We believed these investments in general operations and internal capacity built more sustainable and resilient organizations that would have a greater and lasting impact on their communities. Three years later, FRESHFARM is living proof.”

Susan Buffone, a FRESHFARM supporter for over a decade, saw the connection clearly: “My investment in organizational capacity has paid off. We’ve grown tremendously, and I’m excited to see how we continue to build on this solid foundation.”

Three Years of Intentional Investment

For years, FRESHFARM ran an extremely lean development and administrative operation, while our programs grew exponentially in response to community needs during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The Growth Campaign allowed us to enhance our technological infrastructure and build capacity across our Development, Finance, and Human Resources teams.

We grew our Development function from two to five full-time professionals — strengthening leadership at the director level and building capacity across major gifts, institutional giving, donor engagement, business partnerships, and data operations.

Migration to an integrated contact management and communications platform transformed how we collaborate across teams, track donors, communicate with supporters and stakeholders, and make data-driven decisions.

Our expanded Finance and Human Resources teams and upgraded budgeting and human resources information management systems have freed our administrative leaders to better plan for the long term and build resilience in our day-to-day operations.

“Without investments in the right technology, systems, and people to run them, nonprofits like FRESHFARM don’t have the resources to create accountability or diversify funding streams,” said Renee Catacalos, FRESHFARM Director of Strategic Investments. “We’re grateful to the forward-thinking funders and donors who invested in this capacity.”

Campaigns like the Growth Campaign require patience. The results of investing in people and infrastructure show up over time — in the quality of relationships built, the programs sustained, and the crises navigated. They also show up in quieter ways: in decisions made more intentionally, in the time and capacity to think strategically, and in the data available to learn and course-correct. We will continue to monitor our growth and the impact of these investments in the years ahead.

Capacity Is What You Draw on When Things Get Hard

Two years after the launch of the Campaign, we found ourselves navigating aggressive shifts in federal nonprofit funding and widespread economic uncertainty. This was compounded by the longest-ever federal government shutdown in November 2025.

FRESHFARM showed up quickly and at scale when it became clear that thousands of SNAP users would be without funds on November 1, and that tens of thousands of federal workers across the region wouldn’t be receiving paychecks.

Our response was possible thanks to our leadership, increased team capacity, enhanced technology, and the funder relationships we’d built over the past two years.

FRESHFARM provided all SNAP users and furloughed federal workers with $30 in FreshMatch incentive coupons, redeemable at any FRESHFARM farmers market or partner location in the Washington, DC region. Between November 1–17, we distributed over $128,000 in incentives — more than 4,200 transactions and a 700% surge over typical activity. These numbers represent a real impact for thousands of individuals and families who were able to continue putting fresh, local produce on the table during the shutdown.

That is what organizational capacity looks like when it matters most. Not a line item in a budget, but a lifeline for families who needed fresh food while their world was uncertain and for farmers who depend on market revenue.

The Case for Investing in Organizational Capacity

FRESHFARM’s Growth Campaign can be the case study the nonprofit sector needs. Intentional, sustained investment in organizational health works. With the right leadership and vision, it makes programs stronger, teams more resilient, and organizations better equipped to serve their communities — especially in turbulent times.

—

The Growth Campaign is ending. Its impact will last well into the future. FRESHFARM will continue seeking partners who believe that organizational capacity is key to building an equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system in the Mid-Atlantic. 

To the funders and individual donors who believed that a stronger FRESHFARM would mean more for the farmers, families, and children we serve — you were right. And we are deeply grateful.

FOUNDATIONS 

• A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation
• Clif Family Foundation
• Kettering Family Foundation
• Lavin Foundation
• Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
• Prince Charitable Trusts
• Revada Family Foundation
• Roaring Brook Family Foundation

INDIVIDUAL DONORS

• Ann and Charlie Yonkers
• Dan and Marianne Spiegel
• Lisa Renstrom and Bob Perkowitz
• Linda and John Costa
• Motoko Aizawa and Mark Sommers
• Susan Buffone
• Other donors who wish to remain anonymous

Your support makes our programs possible. Make a gift to FRESHFARM today.