How do I find funders for a grassroots food and agriculture nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots food and agriculture organizations, currently Freestore Foodbank Inc, Harrison County Community Foundation, Golden Harvest Food Bank Inc. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

What counts as a grassroots organization here?

Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.

How much grant money goes to grassroots food and agriculture organizations?

$447M reached 3,318 grassroots food and agriculture organizations from 6,105 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Food and agriculture · grassroots

Who funds grassroots food and agriculture organizations

The funders that back grassroots food and agriculture organizations are specialists, not generalists: Freestore Foodbank Inc gives them 536.8× the national rate, with 91% of its grants going here. These are the small organizations the big-institution funders usually miss, so the funders that show up here are the ones worth a small food and agriculture nonprofit's time.

$447M

granted

3,318

organizations

6,105

funders

The short version

6,105 funders gave $447M to 3,318 grassroots food and agriculture organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Freestore Foodbank Inc, giving 536.8× the national rate to grassroots food and agriculture organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is Freestore Foodbank Inc, at $18M.
The grassroots food and agriculture organization drawing the most is Fg-Hope Inc, at $18M.

Funders most focused on grassroots food and agriculture organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

Freestore Foodbank Inc536.8×$18M · 91% of its giving Harrison County Community Foundation224.7×$2M · 78% of its giving Golden Harvest Food Bank Inc209×$1M · 96% of its giving The Food Bank of Western193.5×$1M · 84% of its giving Farmers Market Fund162.9×$1M · 59% of its giving The Lozen Foundation Inc160.5×$2M · 36% of its giving Greater Newark Conservancy Inc157×$1M · 58% of its giving Altasea at the Port of Los Angeles154.4×$900k · 90% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to grassroots food and agriculture organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1Freestore Foodbank Inc$18M 2Gates Foundation$6M 3WK Kellogg Foundation$3M 4Builders Vision Foundation$2M 5Rsf Social Finance Inc$2M 6National Fish and Wildlife Foundation$2M 7Trailhead Institute$2M 8The Lozen Foundation Inc$2M

Grassroots food and agriculture organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

3,308 other grassroots food and agriculture organizations$403M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots food and agriculture nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots food and agriculture organizations, currently Freestore Foodbank Inc, Harrison County Community Foundation, Golden Harvest Food Bank Inc. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a grassroots organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.
How much grant money goes to grassroots food and agriculture organizations?: $447M reached 3,318 grassroots food and agriculture organizations from 6,105 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

Strange bedfellows

the named clusters of US funding

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; cause is the recipient's NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.