Key Takeaways
- The America's Favorite Couple competition generated $2.5 million in grants, split evenly between Oceana and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
- Each organization received $1,250,816 from the Action Initiative Team, the grant-making partner behind the competition run by the professional fundraiser Colossal.
- The same grant covers about 3.6 percent of Oceana's annual revenue but only 0.33 percent of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank's, which reported $373.5 million in revenue for 2025.
The America's Favorite Couple competition, run by the professional fundraiser Colossal, generated $2.5 million in grants on October 1, 2026, sending $1,250,816 each to Oceana and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. The result was announced by Colossal, which named Wendy and Bruce Chandler of Texas the 2026 winners.
The Chandlers received $20,000, a Variety advertorial, and a dinner in the Hollywood Hills with Jeff and Emilie Goldblum. The combined grant of $2,501,632 came from the Action Initiative Team, the competition's grant-making partner, and supports the two causes the competition backed this year. Those causes are ocean conservation, carried out by Oceana, and hunger relief, carried out by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Oceana described the campaign on its competition page and thanked donors for the result.
What the records show
The two equal grants land very differently against each recipient's budget. Oceana, an international ocean conservation group, reported $34.7 million in revenue on its most recent federal filing, the Form 990 for 2024. A grant of $1,250,816 equals about 3.6 percent of that total. The filing also shows Oceana spent $45.5 million that year, more than it took in, which makes unrestricted grants of this size useful to the group's operations.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is far larger. Its Form 990 for 2025 reported $373.5 million in revenue, up from $273.9 million the year before, a rise of about 36 percent driven mostly by donated food and contributions. The food bank, led by President and Chief Executive Michael Flood, spent more than $331 million in 2025. Against that budget, the same $1,250,816 grant equals about 0.33 percent of annual revenue.
In other words, the identical grant is roughly eleven times as significant to Oceana's finances as it is to the food bank's.
Why it matters
Promotional competitions have become a steady fundraising channel for established nonprofits. The America's Favorite Couple competition turns public votes and entry donations into unrestricted grants, and this year it delivered seven figures to each of two causes. For Oceana, a grant worth about 3.6 percent of revenue is a meaningful addition to a mid-sized budget that ran a deficit in its latest filing. For the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the grant is a far smaller share of a much larger operation.
The even split also shows how a single pool of donations can be spread across unrelated causes under one marketing banner. Voters who entered to support a favorite couple funded ocean conservation and Los Angeles hunger relief at the same time, in equal measure, without choosing between them.
Oceana's chief executive, James Simon, framed the result in terms of the group's mission. He said:
Your votes, shares, and donations truly help power our work to restore ocean abundance and support coastal communities around the world.
People Also Ask
Who won America's Favorite Couple in 2026?
Wendy and Bruce Chandler of Texas were crowned the 2026 America's Favorite Couple. The Chandlers won $20,000, a Variety advertorial, and a dinner in the Hollywood Hills with Jeff and Emilie Goldblum.
How much did the America's Favorite Couple competition raise?
The America's Favorite Couple competition generated $2,501,632 in total. The money was delivered as grants of $1,250,816 each to Oceana and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
What is Oceana?
Oceana is an international advocacy organization focused on ocean conservation. Oceana reported $34.7 million in revenue on its 2024 federal filing and received a grant of $1,250,816 from the America's Favorite Couple competition.
Sources: GlobeNewswire, Oceana.