A Public Resource Compiled by the

GMO Free USA

222 Main Street Suite 242
Farmington, CT 06032
501c3 nonprofit
GMOFreeUSA.org

Recipient: Exclusive focus on biotech-related topics

Key People

  • Diana Reeves, Founder & Executive Director, Board of Directors
  • Luan Van Le, Development & Communications Director, Board of Directors
  • Claire Robinson, Board of Directors
  • Henry Rowlands, Board of Directors

GMO Free USA

Following Connecticut’s failed attempt to pass GMO labeling legislation, environmental activist Diana Reeves, “fed up with the overwhelming corporate influence on her state’s government,” launched GMO Free USA in 2012. Her goal was to lead “national boycotts of food companies that used GMO ingredients in their products,” in hopes of pressuring the firms “to remove those GMO ingredients.”

GMO Free USA has ongoing boycotts against Kellogg’s cereal company and baby food maker Gerber. The organization targets these big names in the food industry because “when one Big Food company is forced to remove GMOs, their competitors are at a disadvantage and soon follow.” The Gerber campaign is especially important, GMO Free USA says, because “Avoiding GMOs and toxic agrichemicals are [sic] important to …. the health of growing, vulnerable babies and children.”

In September 2018, GMO Free USA joined Beyond Pesticides and Organic Consumers Association in a lawsuit against Pret A Manger restaurant chain “for the deceptive marketing of …. baked goods as ‘natural food,’ after the products tested positive for glyphosate, a component of Roundup weedkiller.” The three organizations argued in the lawsuit that Pret A Manger “willfully misrepresents” its products and exposes its customers to a chemical linked to “serious adverse health effects including cancer, infertility, and non-alcoholic fatty liver and kidney diseases.”

GMO Free USA counts Claire Robinson and Henry Rowlands among its board members. Robinson co-founded the website GM Watch, which “seeks to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters.” Rowlands operates the pro-organic website Sustainable Pulse. He has also worked with the anti-GMO group Moms Across America to argue that the weed killer glyphosate is found in human breast milk, and can cause “cancer and neurological disorders” in children. Rowlands is alleged to have hacked the emails of researchers who challenged Moms Across America’s claim about the dangers of glyphosate.

GMO Free USA raises funds via online product sales and solicits individual donations through its website. The nonprofit receives some larger donations from other organizations, including environmental group Patagonia Action Works, though it does not disclose its other donors or how much they give.

Financial Data

 

Annual Revenue: $75,329 (2016)

Total Assets $49,948 (2016)

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Note that there are three “levels” of both donors and recipients.

Donors
Donations to advocacy groups are sometimes designated to support a specific cause, such as organic agriculture or mitigating climate change. There is no way for us to know from publicly-available documents on what the money will be spent, as we can only see the total amount donated. When we assign the levels below to donors and recipients, we assume that all donations are available to the recipient for all advocacy, including anti-GMO advocacy.

  • Level 1: Donates primarily to dedicated anti-GMO organizations
  • Level 2: A large portion of donations go to anti-GMO organizations; some donations go to organizations without a position on GMOs
  • Level 3: A small portion of donations go to anti-GMO organizations
    * Most donations go to organizations without a formal position on GMOs but which have aligned themselves with anti-GMO activists

Recipients
For Level 1 recipients, all donations are used for anti-GMO advocacy. For Level 2 and 3 recipients, we don’t know how much of each donation is used for anti-GMO advocacy.

  • Level 1: Dedicated to anti-GMO advocacy
  • Level 2: Involved in anti-GMO advocacy along with other causes
  • Level 3: No specific anti-GMO advocacy, but general support
    * Organizations without a formal position on GMOs but which have aligned themselves with anti-GMO activists