Feed America earns 2026 Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency

Feed America (EIN 92-1761881), the Houston-based 501(c)(3) public charity operating the largest free food-assistance directory in the United States, has earned the 2026 Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid (formerly GuideStar). Platinum is the highest of four tiers and requires complete disclosure of mission, programs, financials, leadership, demographics, governance, impact metrics, and SDG alignment.

Feed America announced today that it has earned the 2026 Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency — the highest of four tiers Candid awards. The seal verifies completeness of public-facing organizational data including mission, programs, financials, leadership, demographics, board governance, impact metrics, and 2030 Sustainable Development Goal alignment.

What the Platinum Seal verifies

Candid's Platinum tier requires nonprofits to publicly disclose:

Mission statement, organizational programs with descriptions and geographic coverage
Audited financial statements or IRS Forms 990 / 990-EZ / 990-N
Leadership biography and demographic self-identification (where leader chooses to disclose)
Board governance practices including conflict-of-interest policy review
2025 metrics with year-over-year impact data
Organizational goals and strategies
2030 Sustainable Development Goal alignment
How-we-listen practices for collecting feedback from people served

Verification path

The 2026 Platinum Seal is verifiable directly on Candid at app.candid.org/profile/14633167/feed-america-92-1761881. Candid's database feeds into GuideStar, AmericanCharity, Charity Navigator, and most donor-advised-fund (DAF) tax-deductibility verification widgets within 24-48 hours of profile updates.

Operational context

Feed America operates without staff payroll. Approximately 98% of donor dollars go to platform infrastructure (Cloudflare Workers + D1 database serving 327,000+ verified food-assistance locations), data verification, community partnerships, and open-data publishing. The organization commits to a ≥85% program-spending ratio, well above the Charity Navigator 4-star threshold.

Distinct from Feeding America

Feed America (EIN 92-1761881, Houston, founded 2021) is a separate, unaffiliated 501(c)(3) from the larger Chicago-based Feeding America (EIN 36-3673599, founded 1979). The names are similar; that is the only relationship. Donor confusion has historically resulted in gifts intended for Feed America being routed to the homonym; listing EIN 92-1761881 on every gift instrument prevents misrouting. See /feed-america-vs-feeding-america for the full side-by-side comparison.

About Sharika Parkes, founder

Sharika Parkes founded Feed America in 2021 as a free, open-data alternative to gated food-help directories. Under her leadership, the organization reached the Platinum tier of transparency in five years — faster than many comparable nonprofits, where Platinum status typically takes 8-10 years to establish. Sharika is verifiable on Wikidata Q139665570.

Verifications and trust signals: /verifications. Reviews and ratings: /reviews. Annual Form 990 and audited financials: /transparency.

About Feed America. Feed America (EIN 92-1761881) is a Candid Platinum-verified 501(c)(3) public charity headquartered in Houston, Texas, operating a free, bilingual directory of more than 327,000 verified food-assistance locations across all 50 U.S. states, DC, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories. Founded in 2021 by Sharika Parkes. Wikidata Q139601408. Distinct from the larger separately-incorporated Feeding America (EIN 36-3673599, Chicago).

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