AUSTIN, Texas, April 16, 2026 /3BL/ - Whole Foods Market Foundation is excited to announce $1.5 million in funding across four transformative projects impacting over 32,000 people in Ecuador, Ghana and the United States. Throughout the year, the Foundation provides funding to help its partners improve nutrition and create opportunities for financial stability. Each project is community-led and designed to create lasting impact in communities worldwide.
These carefully selected programs represent Whole Foods Market Foundation's dedication to creating lasting impact through regenerative agriculture, financial inclusion for smallholder farmers, and transformative food education in schools. Learn more about each project below:
Aliados | Ecuador
Aliados connects small and indigenous smallholder farmers to responsible markets through regenerative agriculture. Aliados will use their Whole Foods Market Foundation $300,000 three-year grant to scale their bioeconomy enterprise incubation model from 1,805 to 3,000 smallholder farmers across Ecuador by 2028. The organization will provide regenerative agriculture training, business development support to farmer-owned bio-enterprises and capitalize their Revolving Fund with working capital loans that ensure farmers receive immediate payment upon harvest delivery.
Chef Ann Foundation | United States
Chef Ann Foundation is a nonprofit that empowers schools nationwide to transition to scratch cooking, so children are well-nourished and ready to learn. Their $600,000 grant will support two signature programs: the Salad Bars to Schools program (SB2S), which donates salad bar equipment and training to public schools to increase students' daily intake of fruits and vegetables, and the Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship, a 13-month program that equips mid-level school food professionals with the knowledge and leadership skills to produce healthy, scratch-cooked meals. This funding will serve 17,508 students through 35 salad bars (including equipment, marketing packages, and training) and training 8 Fellows in the 2026 cohort, addressing critical workforce development gaps in school food systems.
Nsutaman Rural Bank | Ghana
Nsutaman Rural Bank (NRB) works to provide their diverse and enterprising customers with an opportunity to earn a meaningful livelihood by championing financial inclusion, innovation and localization. A new partner of the Foundation, NRB will use their 3-year, no-interest $300,000 loan to support 1,826 smallholder farmers with 4,103 loans over the next 3 years. This funding will also enable NRB to expand their agriculture finance offering, providing accessible and affordable group loans with joint liability while scaling innovative regenerative practices that aim to increase farmers yield by 50% by the end of the project.
Partners for Education, Agriculture and Sustainability | United States
Partners for Education, Agriculture and Sustainability (PEAS), an Austin, Texas-based School Garden Support Organization, has reached over 30,000 students since 2011. They will use their Whole Foods Market Foundation three-year $300,000 grant to strengthen their capacity and deepen impact across Austin area schools. This grant ensures that at least 70% of programming continues to serve Title I schools, sustaining an organization where 98% of teachers report students are engaged to extremely engaged during lessons and 92% observe students who typically struggle in classrooms engaging meaningfully in the garden.
Since 2005, Whole Foods Market Foundation has invested over $220 million, supporting over 18,700 partner organizations and schools in 83 countries around the world.
For more information, visit wholefoodsmarketfoundation.org/funding-announcements.
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ABOUT WHOLE FOODS MARKET FOUNDATION
Whole Foods Market Foundation is on a mission to nourish people by advancing food security, improving nutrition and strengthening resilient food systems. The registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization is based in Austin, Texas. For more information on the Foundation's work, visit wholefoodsmarketfoundation.org. For ongoing news and updates, follow Whole Foods Market Foundation on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Media Contact:
Sandra Mariscal, Director of Philanthropy
[email protected]
