GiveBetter x Chicago

Nourishing Hope

Food access, social services and mental wellness

Research time: ~3 min on GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.
  • Modeling — estimated costs, QALYs and uncertainty.
  • Source audit — checked claims, assumptions and calculations.

Updated: 2026-10-05

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Summary

What do they do? Nourishing Hope provides food, social services and mental wellness support to Chicago residents. Its counselors offer intake and ongoing care, while case managers help with benefits, transit, housing and employment resources. Food distribution and individual support address several connected barriers to household stability.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Current licensed clinical and case-management services establish a plausible mechanism.

  • Food and benefits access can improve usable household resources.

  • Multiple access routes serve residents facing practical barriers.

Our main reservations:

  • Food pounds and neighbors served are not additional therapy cohorts or causal outcomes.

  • Net food substitution, benefit access and clinical effectiveness are unmeasured here.

  • Whole annual costs and donated food do not establish marginal gift productivity.

What do you get for your dollar? $11.5M per DALY in Chicago. DALY is our one-year comparison unit. QALY-based health gains and income-welfare equivalents retain their original assumptions; they are not measured clinical DALYs.

Additional completed counseling with finite symptom-health area and signed net usable food/benefit resources.

1. What do they do?

Nourishing Hope, EIN 36-2734184, operates food markets, delivery, social services and mental wellness in Chicago. Counseling is available to Chicago residents aged 14 or older after intake; alternative referrals and ongoing coordination are offered. Social services include benefits applications, transit, grant eligibility, housing and job-search support. The official donation route is current; no checkout transaction was tested.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

The organization reports over six million food pounds and 50,000 neighbors in 2025. These are delivery measures, not unique additional therapy participants or avoided illness. Track unique households, additional usable food resources net of substitution, actual benefit receipt, session completion, clinical outcomes and process burdens. Existing SNAP, Medicaid, other food banks and public clinics remain alternatives. Food-service use is not required for social services.

3. Qualitative assessment

A Cochrane review of primary-care counseling found modest short-term mental health advantages over usual GP care, but not long-term superiority or overall healthcare cost reductions. The evidence is dated and from different settings; it does not identify local treatment fidelity, adolescent effects or QALYs. The model's .04 utility increment for six months is a weak separate judgment. No mortality, ordinary survivor earnings or additional food-related clinical benefit is stacked on the same people.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

Original April–March annual recognized expense plus direct event expense gives FY2025 $20,399,467, FY2024 $19,122,654 and FY2023 $16,917,206; mean $18,813,109. Schedule D identifies no additional donated-service expense requiring a second addback. FY2024 reconciliation's $308,941 matches event cost and is counted once. Noncash contributions of $11,222,804, $10,791,364 and $8,878,798 are not automatically another expense added to already recognized food resources. Unrecognized volunteer opportunity costs remain unknown.

A judged 1,000 local household opportunities and .5 additional annual-work response expose 500 households. A .1 clinical share and .5 completion yield 25 clinical residents within the same union. Judged .04 utility for six months, quarter-year delay and 3% discount yield 0.50 clinical QALYs. This is a narrow conditional bundled-services channel with the whole annual denominator, not complete portfolio EV or measured marginal-gift productivity.

Two hundred households conditionally gain $300 usable food purchasing resources and $600 benefits in one year, already net of alternative food, substitution, taxes, benefit withdrawal and replacement support. These are actual incremental resource hypotheses, not pounds times retail price or gross salary. Each positive component retains .5 for health overlap; full negatives remain. Full $75 process time/transport burden leaves $375. Three hundred other households lose $75. One welfare-equivalent person per household, $20,000 annual resources and one joint log yield 1.284554 equivalents. Additional family welfare is unpriced. Combined 1.780872 gives $11.5M per DALY, not ten clinical QALYs.

Clinical failure preserves resource exposure and costs. Full-union harm, negative resources, payer loss and external care burdens are stresses. Public transfers and donated food need counterparty accounting; matched payer incidence is separate, not attenuated by recipient overlap. Central payer and external costs are unknown-neutral references, not factual zero or complete-world benefit.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Original April–March annual recognized expense plus direct event expense gives FY2025 $20,399,467, FY2024 $19,122,654 and FY2023 $16,917,206; mean $18,813,109. Schedule D identifies no additional donated-service expense requiring a second addback. FY2024 reconciliation's $308,941 matches event cost and is counted once. Noncash contributions of $11,222,804, $10,791,364 and $8,878,798 are not automatically another expense added to already recognized food resources. Unrecognized volunteer opportunity costs remain unknown. A judged 1,000 local household opportunities and .5 additional annual-work response expose 500 households. A .1 clinical share and .5 completion yield 25 clinical residents within the same union. Judged .04 utility for six months, quarter-year delay and 3% discount yield 0.50 clinical QALYs. This is a narrow conditional bundled-services channel with the whole annual denominator, not complete portfolio EV or measured marginal-gift productivity. Two hundred households conditionally gain $300 usable food purchasing resources and $600 benefits in one year, already net of alternative food, substitution, taxes, benefit withdrawal and replacement support. These are actual incremental resource hypotheses, not pounds times retail price or gross salary. Each positive component retains .5 for health overlap; full negatives remain. Full $75 process time/transport burden leaves $375. Three hundred other households lose $75. One welfare-equivalent person per household, $20,000 annual resources and one joint log yield 1.284554 equivalents. Additional family welfare is unpriced. Combined 1.780872 gives $11.5M per DALY, not ten clinical QALYs. Clinical failure preserves resource exposure and costs. Full-union harm, negative resources, payer loss and external care burdens are stresses. Public transfers and donated food need counterparty accounting; matched payer incidence is separate, not attenuated by recipient overlap. Central payer and external costs are unknown-neutral references, not factual zero or complete-world benefit.

Chicago resident households; one clinical resident in subset of resource union.

exposed=N*b; clinical=exposed*clinicalShare*completion; Q=clinical*q*discounted finite years−full union harm. Positive-only overlap per signed food/benefit component, then joint household log once. Price=10*C/(health+resources).

C
20399467 USD full annual recognized expense (observed). Original expense plus direct event cost counted once. [nh-99025]
N
1000 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
b
0.5 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
clinicalShare
0.1 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
completion
0.5 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
q
0.04 Annual utility increment (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-review]
T
0.5 Years (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
delay
0.25 Years (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
discount
0.03 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
g
1 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
resourceSuccess
0.4 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
foodGain
300 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
benefitGain
600 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
cost
75 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
baseline
20000 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
positiveOverlap
0.5 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
payerLoss
0 Native parameter defined in ledger (unknown). Unknown-neutral reference, not measured zero. [nh-work]
payerPeople
20 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
payerBaseline
60000 Native parameter defined in ledger (judgment). Conditional prior, not observed local cohorts, actual resource receipt or trial-to-local QALYs. [nh-work]
externalCost
0 Native parameter defined in ledger (unknown). Unknown-neutral reference, not measured zero. [nh-work]
harm
0 Native parameter defined in ledger (unknown). Unknown-neutral reference, not measured zero. [nh-work]

central: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

clinical null: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

financial only: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

full unknown: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

zero expansion: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

true zero: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

adverse: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: -0.12; all-population health QALYs: -0.12. Income-equivalent healthy years: -3.46. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

negative resources: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: -3.46. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

negative no overlap: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: -3.46. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

mixed sign: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.68. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

matched margin: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.78. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

external care cost: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

positive resources: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: 2.98. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

annual full response: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.99; all-population health QALYs: 0.99. Income-equivalent healthy years: 2.57. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

no completion: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

full completion: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.99; all-population health QALYs: 0.99. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

high participation burden: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: -4.02. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

no resource success: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.93. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

half population: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.25; all-population health QALYs: 0.25. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.64. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

one year durability: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.99; all-population health QALYs: 0.99. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

full union harm: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

negative health: Cost: $20.4M; Chicago health QALYs: -0.12; all-population health QALYs: -0.12. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

three year mean: Cost: $18.8M; Chicago health QALYs: 0.50; all-population health QALYs: 0.50. Income-equivalent healthy years: 1.28. Conditional food/benefits and therapy channel; full portfolio and marginal gift unknown.

Counterfactual: Existing food banks, public benefits, clinics and alternative providers continue.

Attribution: Throughput, additional funded-work response, therapy uptake, utility and usable resources are separate judgments.

Net substitution, unique additional cohorts, local clinical outcomes, outside incidence and marginal expansion unknown.

Sensitivity

  • clinical null: no finite positive estimate
  • financial only: no finite positive estimate
  • full unknown: no finite positive estimate
  • zero expansion: no finite positive estimate
  • true zero: no finite positive estimate
  • adverse: no finite positive estimate
  • negative resources: no finite positive estimate
  • negative no overlap: no finite positive estimate
  • mixed sign: no finite positive estimate
  • matched margin: no finite positive estimate
  • external care cost: no finite positive estimate
  • positive resources: no finite positive estimate
  • annual full response: no finite positive estimate
  • no completion: no finite positive estimate
  • full completion: no finite positive estimate
  • high participation burden: no finite positive estimate
  • no resource success: no finite positive estimate
  • half population: no finite positive estimate
  • one year durability: no finite positive estimate
  • full union harm: no finite positive estimate
  • negative health: no finite positive estimate
  • three year mean: no finite positive estimate

Unresolved inputs

  • Unique additional service households and clinical completion
  • Local utility and harms
  • Actual food substitution and net benefits
  • Outside payer resources and marginal funding

Health and income breakdown

For the modeled $20.4M: 0.50 health QALYs + 1.28 income-equivalent healthy years in Chicago: $11.5M per DALY. Income equivalents are welfare comparisons, not observed QALYs or DALYs.

Method and caveats.

5. Funding and previous grants

Original government grants were $1,069,603, $1,018,888 and $406,011. Public benefits eligibility and food alternatives continue without this recipient. The .5 response judges additional annual funded work while retaining full annual expense; b=1 shows full response. Actual unmet expansion, alternative funding, food supply replacement and marginal donor response remain unknown.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $16.9M; Nourishing Hope, 12-month period, Form 990 recognized expense plus separately netted direct event expense once. Source
  • FY 2024: $19.1M; Nourishing Hope, 12-month period, Form 990 recognized expense plus separately netted direct event expense once. Source
  • FY 2025: $20.4M; Nourishing Hope, 12-month period, Form 990 recognized expense plus separately netted direct event expense once. Source

6. Sources

  1. Original fiscal 2025 Form 990. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  2. Original fiscal 2024 Form 990. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  3. Original fiscal 2023 Form 990. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  4. Original expense reconciliation. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  5. Original expense reconciliation. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  6. Original expense reconciliation. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  7. Current social services. Nourishing Hope. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  8. Current mental wellness services. Nourishing Hope. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  9. Current reports and financials. Nourishing Hope. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  10. Official donation route. Nourishing Hope. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  11. Counseling for mental health in primary care. Cochrane. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.