meet our supporters

We are grateful to the individuals, foundations, and corporations who invest in our work. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, we pursued a business model that relied heavily upon the earned income we raised through our many public market stall fees. We received early financial support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Foundation for the MidSouth, Farm Aid, and the William B. Reily Company.

By 1999, we had established an endowment at the Greater New Orleans Foundation (as part of the Ford Foundation's Rural Development and Community Foundation Initiative) with investments from BellSouth, Coypu Foundation, Keller Family Foundation, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and Zemurray Foundation. (Our endowment circa 2008 has reached $880K.) Steadily, we began to assemble a varied base of support from the likes of Culinary Concierge, F.B. Heron Foundation, Ford Foundation, Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, RosaMary Foundation, Tabasco Brand Products, USDA Agricultural Marketing Services, among others and other activities, like our annual harvest dinner for the Crescent City Farmers Market.

In 2005 as we were poised to restructure and rebrand our organization from the Economics Institute into marketumbrella.org, our region was devastated Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Upon our return to the city in October of that year, we turned to our existing supporters for emergency funds to meet the needs of rural farmers and fishers whose livelihoods had been destroyed. We restarted two of our four farmers markets, and we sparked new relationships with investors keen to make good things happen in the chaotic context of the Katrina recovery zone and to share lessons learned in an environment where experimentation is wide open.

By 2009, we are noticing that the dust (and mud!) is beginning to settle. Our work is evolving. We are grateful to those who are helping us grow. Pledged to social enterpreneurism, we remain true to our mission yet open to unexpected partnerships and learning. As to how this shapes our base of support, we are patiently tapping local individuals and organizations for support while also forging new relations with national investors.

Thank you to the following investors who rallied around us in and since the autumn of 2005:
Blue Moon Fund
F.B. Heron Foundation
Ford Foundation
International Association of Culinary Professionals
Kresge Foundation
Le Cordon Bleu Schools of North America
National Rural Funders' Collaborative
Mennonite Economic Development Associates
Oxfam America
Project for Public Spaces
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Ruth U. Fertel Foundation
Share Our Strength
Slow Food USA
Tabasco Brand Products
United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Services
United States Department of Agriculture Community Food Projects
Whole Foods
W.K. Kellogg Foundation