The IDFA Foundation seeks to make an important contribution to people and communities on behalf of the U.S. dairy industry by providing grants to support individuals and organizations working to advance human health and nutrition, improve environmental stewardship and sustainability, and enhance the welfare of people working in food manufacturing. Established in 1958 as the Dairy Recognition and Education Foundation, today the IDFA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation promoting the health and well-being of people, communities, and our planet on behalf of U.S. dairy.
Executive Vice President, Chief Impact Officer, IDFA Foundation
President & CEO
Chair, IDFA Foundation | President/General Manager, Dairy Manufacturing, Continental Dairy Facilities, LLC
Treasurer, IDFA Foundation | President and Executive Director, Albertsons Companies Foundation
Secretary, IDFA Foundation | Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Great Lakes Cheese Company
IDFA Foundation Board Director | Director of Global Responsibility, Leprino Foods Company
IDFA Foundation Board Director | Senior Vice President Supply Chain Management US, Schreiber Foods
The IDFA Foundation provides grants and awards to support individuals and organizations working to advance human health and nutrition, improve environmental stewardship and sustainability, and enhance the welfare of people working in food manufacturing. A summary of the IDFA Foundation’s recent grants and awards is below. For more information on how to partner with or learn about the work of the IDFA Foundation, please contact the Foundation staff at foundation@idfafoundation.org.
Nutrition, Health and Wellness: The IDFA Foundation provides grants to reduce hunger, improve food security, and help families access healthy, affordable nutrition.
Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability: The IDFA Foundation provides grants to support solutions, innovations, and ideas that advance the food, beverage and agriculture industry’s commitments toward environmental stewardship and sustainability.
Diverse, Equitable, Inclusive Workforce and Developmental Opportunities: The IDFA Foundation provides grants to support efforts to attract and retain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce within the food, beverage, and agriculture industry, as well as opportunities for education, training, and accreditation.
2025 - San Antonio Food Bank: The IDFA Foundation presented a charitable donation in the amount of $3,000 to the to San Antonio Food Bank to address hunger in Southwest Texas. The San Antonio Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that distributes millions of pounds of food to over 500 organizations in Southwest Texas. The IDFA Foundation also worked with the food bank’s staff and the dairy processing community to coordinate the donation of more than 3.5 truckloads of nutritious milk, cheese, yogurt, and coffee creamers. Donations of wholesome dairy were made by four dairy processing companies. Additionally, eight IDFA member companies came together to donate $35,500 to the food bank. Altogether, IDFA Foundation coordinated $38,500 in financial support and approximately 150,000 pounds in dairy food donations. The combined donations will provide more than 247,000 meals to food insecure families throughout Southwest Texas.
2025 - El Pasoans Fighting Hunger: The IDFA Foundation facilitated the donation of 765 bags of nutritious milk powder from KLC Global Services, in coordination with Feeding America, to El Pasoans Fighting Hunger food bank in El Paso, Texas. The shipment contained 34,425 pounds of Grade A Nonfat Dry Milk Powder. The donation has the potential to provide up to 550,800 individual servings of dairy, or more than 34,000 gallons of fresh milk, to individuals in need.
2024 – RISE Against Hunger: The IDFA Foundation presented a charitable donation in the amount of $6,000 to RISE Against Hunger that helped to provide approximately 12,000 meals to hungry people in developing nations, with a particular focus on undernourished children. Additionally, the IDFA Foundation coordinated a service event for 35 IDFA board members and staff who volunteered to pack meals. The IDFA Foundation’s contribution and service made it possible for RISE Against Hunger to provide 12,000 meals to people in need. In 2024, RISE Against Hunger distributed more than 54.3 million meals and procured more than 2.1 metric tons of food for donation.
2024 - Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia: The IDFA Foundation presented a charitable contribution of $7,015 to Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia to enable the food bank to provide approximately 35,000 meals to those in need. Further, 60 IDFA board members and staff volunteered to pack approximately 3,000 meals for child nutrition programs and sort food for additional outreach, and several IDFA member companies donated an additional $3,000 to make a combined financial contribution of $10,000. Additionally, one IDFA member collaborated with the IDFA Foundation to donate a truckload of shelf-stable, 1% lactose free chocolate milk to the food bank valued at approximately $30,000. Altogether, the Foundation’s service in the food bank as well as its donations should allow the food bank to provide more than 68,000 meals to people in Savannah and surrounding communities.
2024 – Wild Warner, Inc. and Dane County Parks: The IDFA Foundation coordinated a 2.5-hour service event for 25 volunteers at Madison’s Warner Park. Wild Warner is an organization created to preserve and maintain Warner Park. Volunteers removed trash, cleared brush, cut back invasive plant species, and beautified pedestrian and bicycle trails throughout the park.
2024 – Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin: The IDFA Foundation coordinated the donation of 200 cases (4,000 pounds) of American Swiss sliced cheese by Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI), the nation’s largest cheese cooperative owned by families who produce quality milk on Midwest dairy farms, to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. The donation should provide at least 16,000 servings of wholesome, nutritious cheese slices to families in need. In 2023, Second Harvest of Southern Wisconsin and their partners distributed 19.7 million meals across a 16-county service area.
2024 - St. Mary’s Food Bank: The IDFA Foundation presented a charitable donation in the amount of $5,000 to St. Mary’s Food Bank of Phoenix. The Foundation also coordinated the donation of 33,000 pounds of nutritious milk, cheese, and yogurt by The Kroger Company, Diversified Foods, Inc., and Lactalis USA, and coordinated $10,000 in additional financial contributions from Albertsons Companies Foundation and Schreiber Foods Inc. Altogether, the food and financial donations will allow the food bank to provide 72,000 meals to food insecure families throughout Phoenix and nine Arizona counties served by the food bank.
2023 - Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee: The IDFA Foundation awarded $5,000 to enable the food bank to provide approximately 20,000 meals to those in need. Further, IDFA members Diversified Foods, Inc. of Louisiana and Prairie Farms Dairy of Illinois collaborated with the IDFA Foundation to donate 1,615 cases (22 pallets or 43,340 pounds) of shelf-stable, 2% white milk to Second Harvest. Altogether, the Foundation’s in-kind service as well as food and financial donations will allow the food bank to provide nearly 50,000 meals to people in Nashville and surrounding communities.
2023 - RISE Against Hunger: The IDFA Foundation presented a charitable contribution of $6,000 to RISE Against Hunger that provided approximately 12,000 meals to hungry people in developing nations, with a particular focus on undernourished children. Additionally, the IDFA Foundation coordinated a service event for 40 IDFA board members and staff who volunteered to pack the meals for shipping. In 2022, RISE Against Hunger’s work positively impacted the lives of nearly 4.5 million people.
2023 – Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS): The IDFA Foundation presented an initial grant of $30,000 to MANRRS to establish the IDFA Foundation Future Fund, a collaboration between MANRRS and dairy companies that helps make career opportunities in the dairy industry available to MANRRS students engaged in or recently graduated from college, graduate school, or technical school. The Future Fund offers stipends to MANRRS students who are fulfilling an internship or career pathways program with a dairy processing company operating in the United States.
2022 – Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida: The IDFA Foundation presented a contribution of $5,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank to provide nourishing food to those in need in Central Florida following Hurricane Ian. IDFA Foundation’s contribution made it possible for the food bank to provide over 20,000 meals to individuals in Central Florida facing hunger.
2022 – Edesia Nutrition: The IDFA Foundation presented a grant of $28,100 to Edesia Nutrition for sourcing and/or transporting U.S. dairy products used by Edesia in the manufacture of nutrient dense, ready-to-use foods (RUFs) to help treat and prevent malnutrition in the world’s most vulnerable populations. When awarded, the grant supported approximately four truckloads of dairy ingredients used in the manufacture of RUF products.
The IDFA Foundation effectively manages its endowment to make grants and awards exclusively to 501(c)3 entities that are aligned in our mission. The IDFA Foundation, formerly the Dairy Recognition and Education Foundation, is approved under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3) as a tax exempt private foundation, making it exempt from federal income tax. Donors can deduct contributions they make to the IDFA Foundation and the IDFA Foundation is qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under Section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the IRC.
Please make your donation to the IDFA Foundation today.
In FY 2025, The IDFA Foundation led four successful volunteer service events and awarded three grants to reduce hunger in communities across the country. The IDFA Foundation coordinated the donation of 5.5 truckloads of fresh, wholesome dairy products including 2.5 truckloads of milk, 1 truckload (35,000 pounds) of milk powder, and 2 truckloads of cheese, yogurt, and coffee creamers. In collaboration with 11 IDFA member companies, The IDFA Foundation was able to donate $44,500 in total financial contributions to three non-profits, including a $16,000 contribution from IDFA Foundation.
Read more about the Foundation's work throughout FY 2025 in the IDFA Foundation's 2025 Annual Report.
IDFA Foundation Completes First Fiscal Year with Grants to Reduce Food Insecurity and Improve Diversity in Dairy Processing
For more information on how to partner with or learn about the work of the IDFA Foundation, please contact the Foundation staff at foundation@idfafoundation.org.
