Taste Before You Waste is dedicated to reducing food waste and promoting sustainable food practices in Amsterdam. We aim to raise awareness about the environmental and social impact of food waste and empower individuals and businesses to take action. Our mission is to create a more just and sustainable food system for all.
To achieve our goals, Taste Before You Waste engages in a variety of activities, including:
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Food rescue: We collect surplus food from local businesses and redistribute it via our events
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Community meals: We organize "Wasteless Dinners" where volunteers cook delicious meals using rescued food, fostering community and demonstrating the value of food that would otherwise be discarded.
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Educational workshops: We conduct workshops and presentations for schools, businesses, and community groups to educate people about food waste prevention strategies.
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Advocacy: We work to influence policy and promote systemic change to address the root causes of food waste.
Objectives
Board Members
Chairperson
Wingston Sharon Wilson
wingston(at)tastebeforeyouwaste.org
Treasurer
Tiffany Flaherty
tiffany(at)tastebeforeyouwaste.org
Secretary
Vasuki Rajendran
vasuki(at)tastebeforeyouwaste.org
Activities Report for 2024
In 2023, Taste Before You Waste (TBYW) focused on rebuilding and expanding its impact on the community following the pandemic. The organization successfully resumed its weekly Wednesday dinners, expanded its catering events, and launched new educational workshops for students. TBYW also shifted its fundraising strategy, securing a crucial partnership with "Support and Feed" in the US to further its mission of food sustainability.
Key Activities
Weekly Dinners
Every Wednesday at the dokhuis
Catering Events
with partners embodying our values
Wasteless Wednesday formed the backbone of our weekly programming with 29 events featuring local artists, DJs, and community gatherings at our primary venue, Dokhuis. These regular events included performances by El Mo Collective, Liam's Ambient DJ Set, Hollow Drifter, and Comedy Nights, creating consistent community touchpoints throughout the year.
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Our catering program provided sustainable meal services, with regular engagements at Pondok for Magic Gathering events, demonstrating our ability to scale our food waste reduction practices for larger groups.
Monday Workshops
Once a month
Here on Mondays, we ran focused events on hands-on food preparation activities, including workshops on bean patties, croutons, kombucha brewing, and creative use of food scraps like lemon zest.
Community Outreach
How we work with our fans
Fundraising and Collaboration
Strategic Priority for the Board
Public Engagement: Participated in Groen Markt at Marineterrein and collaborated with Green Office for Earth Day initiatives at UvA, extending our reach beyond our core community.
Educational Partnerships: Hosted Earth Day Dinner & Quiz at Ecomama and supported student research presentations at UVA.
Milestone Celebration: Organized the TBYW Utrecht 10-Year Party at ACU, marking a significant organizational milestone.
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Partnered with "Support and Feed" to broaden our reach and impact in promoting a sustainable food system.
Impact
Food Rescue and Repurposing
Our Core Mission
Community Nourishment
Our Concious Strategy
Education and Inspiration
Our Vision
Collaborative Network
Innovation
Saved a significant amount of food from being wasted, diverting it from landfills and ensuring it was enjoyed by the community 4.3 tonnes of food waste prevented, equivalent to approximately 14.4 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided €10,875 worth of food rescued and redirected from waste streams
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Weekly dinners and other events provided nutritious meals to hundreds of people, fostering a sense of connection and shared purpose. 2,030 people engaged across all activities withWasteless Wednesday Dinners formed our core programming with 50% of all events, demonstrating sustained community engagement throughout 2024
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Empowered individuals with the knowledge and skills to reduce food waste in their own lives, creating a ripple effect of change in the community.
Established partnerships with other organizations, institutions, and individuals, building a strong network dedicated to tackling food waste.
TBYW Policy Plan
Problem
Our food system is currently failing. While many are starving, perfectly edible food is discarded unnecessarily, every step along the food supply chain, mounting to a total of 40% of all food produced for human consumption. Apart from the food itself, resources required in production, processing and distribution, such as energy and water, are wasted. Therefore, a wasteful food system is both environmentally irresponsible and socially unacceptable.
​Statutory Objective
The Foundation aims at preventing unnecessary food waste by creating social awareness about the tremendous amount of edible food that is destroyed and all that is connected therewith or may be conducive thereto, all in the broadest sense of the word.
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The Foundation’s key activities
The Foundation seeks to achieve its objective, as stated in Article 3.1 of the Statutes by:
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spreading information via the Foundation’s website and through other channels on how food waste can be prevented and creating a forum on this subject for like-minded people;
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organizing other educational activities, including ‘food giveaway markets’, dinners, debates and film screenings;
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maintaining an international network of like-minded organizations (satellite groups) and persons, that propagate the organization, get administrative support and are allowed to bear the name and logo of the Foundation, under yet to be determined conditions.
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providing non-profit catering activities that strengthen and disseminate the social goal of the Foundation;
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and all that is connected therewith or may be conducive thereto, as long as it contributes to the achievement of the above mentioned goal of the Foundation.
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How the Foundation raises funds
The Foundation raises funds for the realization of its objective, as stated in Article 3.1 of the Statutes. The funds consist of gifts, bequests, legacies, grants and donations, as well as other acquisitions.
The acquisition of funds is done inter alia by the following activities:
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providing donation opportunities at our own events and on our website;
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one-on-one contact with interested persons or bodies;
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offering non-profit catering and educational activities;
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recruiting new contacts/partners/donors, through letters, phone or the use of multimedia and social media;
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participating in start-up and/or acceleration competitions;
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applying for municipal/provincial/state/European or any other type of grant;
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the organization of events to obtain financial resources. This can be done by personal initiatives of people or organizations;
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furthermore, the Foundation wants to approach magazines, newspapers and other media outlets to gain support for its objective.
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How the Foundation manages its funds
The Foundation must keep financial statements. The financial statements have to include a balance sheet, a profit and loss statement and notes to the financial statements. In these statements the Foundation must clarify all expenses reimbursed to Board members, full-time heroes (employees) and part-time heroes (volunteers & interns). Moreover, the records must also clarify all costs made to manage the Foundation and all other costs that were made in pursuit of the Foundation’s objective.
Again we emphasize that the Board members do not receive remuneration for their work. The definition of remuneration, does however not include reasonable reimbursement of expenses incurred for the benefit of the Foundation nor does it include non-excessive attendance-fee.
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How the Foundation utilizes its funds
The funds of the Foundation serve for the realization of the Foundation’s objective. Natural persons or legal persons may not possess the assets of the Foundation as if it were their own. The Foundation may not retain more assets than are reasonably necessary for the continuity of the planned activities of the Foundation. If after deduction of all costs, there are any funds remaining at the end of the calendar year, they will remain on the Foundation’s reserve to absorb any setback in the following year or will be invested in activities to promote the growth of the organization and increase its impact.
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Renumeration Policy
The TBYW Board:
As stated in Article 5.5 of the Statutes, the Board members do not receive remuneration for their work. The definition of remuneration, however, does not include reasonable reimbursement of expenses incurred for the benefit of the Foundation nor does it include non-excessive attendance-fee. All fees paid to Board members are recorded as such and elucidated in the financial statements.
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Coordination Team:
The Foundation’s hierarchy is fluid and members are valued according to their time investment. Only volunteers committing 10 hours a week to an agreed upon coordination position may qualify for monetary compensation. In which case the coordinator is entitled to a compensation of his/her part-time voluntary work and join the foundations payroll. The minimum time period for this is 6 months. If you would like to join please email
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Volunteers Team:
Neither interns or volunteers receive remuneration for their work. However, any expenses they make for the benefit of the Foundation are reimbursed, provided that it was agreed upon in advance, and the appropriate documentation for accounting purposes was presented, validated, and accepted.
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StaFF:
The Foundation in 2024 onwards, has taken the step to enable one or two staff positions. These positions while necessary produced significant financial strain on the foundations limited resources. The foundation is working towards having full time staff to further the mission. All paid staff also fundraise to support their position. If you are reading this and have the ability to support food activists who have ambitions to change the global food landscape, give us a ring.
Our Year End Reports
We will publish our Year End Report within six months after the end of every financial year.
Find our Year End Reports here: