· Public charity
Ecology Center
Inspiring and building a sustainable, healthy, and just future for the east bay, california, and beyond.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k6 grants · $39k
- $10k–50k21 grants · $549k
- $50k–250k14 grants · $1.5M
- $250k+9 grants · $8.5M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PACIFIC COAST FARMERS MARKET ASSOCIATION | $1,905,840 |
| HEART OF THE CITY FARMERS' MARKET | $1,715,135 |
| URBAN VILLAGE FARMERS' MKT ASS | $1,057,215 |
| HUNGER ACTION LOS ANGELES | $1,026,063 |
| ALCHEMIST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMEN | $915,603 |
| AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE OF MARIN | $833,501 |
| SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC ENTERPRISES OF LOS ANGELES | $457,743 |
| AGRICULTURE & LAND-BASED TRAINING | $315,783 |
| NORTH COAST GROWERS ASSOCIATION | $286,913 |
| PETALUMA PEOPLE SERVICES CENTER | $197,813 |
| NORTH COAST OPPORTUNITIES | $174,711 |
| SANTA BARBARA CFMA | $164,545 |
| CSU CHICO RESEARCH FOUNDATION | $160,601 |
| FRESH APPROACH | $103,416 |
| SAN JOAQUIN CERTIFIED FARMERS MARKET | $97,866 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $2.8M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 62% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +64% since the first grant, against 0% for the ones you funded once.
59 repeat relationships — 49 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.
Backed again, and grew
- HOHEART OF THE CITY FARMERS MARKET8× · 2017–2024 · $7.7M · revenue +103% · 66% of their budget
- PCPACIFIC COAST FARMERS MARKET ASSOCIATION8× · 2017–2024 · $7.6M · revenue +58% · 32% of their budget
- HAHUNGER ACTION LOS ANGELES INC8× · 2017–2024 · $4.1M · revenue +245% · 43% of their budget
Funded once
- SFSAN FRANCISCO PARKS ALLIANCEone grant, 2017 · $13k · revenue -35%
- CRCOLLECTIVE ROOTSone grant, 2017 · $12k
- MCMadera Coalition of Community Justiceone grant, 2023 · $9k · revenue +77%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
California fresh farmers market association's mission is to establish and operate vibrant farmers markets that connect communitites with fresh, locally grown produce and promote healthy living
Promoting local agricultural activities through the formation and management of local farmers' markets. successfully operate multiple farmers' markets in marin county and sonoma county.
To serve our community by providing direct access to sustainable sources of fresh produce and other unique foods, and provide education about food issues, both local and beyond.
To educate consumers about our food system, hold space for farmers and producers to interact directly with their customers, and partner with our local schools to promote healthy lifestyles and deeper community connection
To increase the consumption of and production of organically grown produce in our local region by supporting farms via events and markets where they can connect with new customers. additionally create and participate in educational…
Facilitate direct marketing of agricultural products
The mission of the Hollywood Farmers Market is to celebrate the bounty of Oregon and Washington agriculture through the operation of a community based farmers market and other ventures that support small farmers and healthy urban…
The mission of yolo food bank is to make yolo county a thriving community where everyone has the resources they need to experience health, prosperity, and a high quality of life. Yolo Food bank durably increases food and nutrition security…
The purpose of this entity is for the organization of community farmers market in Sebastopol, CA.
To end hunger in san francisco and marin counties by soliciting food donations nationally, distributing this food to qualifying public service agencies and neighborhood pantries, advocating for improved government food programs, and…
The primary objectives and purposes of The Friends of the Healdsburg Farmers' Market are: -to educate the public about the importance of local, sustainable agriculture by creating and distributing brochures, newsletters, and newspaper…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Downtown Napa Farmers Market Corporation and the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
Your grantees are a median of 24 years old; the field is 13. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 25% startups (under 5 years old) — 8% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.
Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.
47 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 47 of the 68 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds HEART OF THE CITY FARMERS MARKET ↗
- Who funds PACIFIC COAST FARMERS MARKET ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds HUNGER ACTION LOS ANGELES INC ↗
- Who funds ALCHEMIST CDC ↗
- Who funds AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTE OF MARIN ↗
- Who funds SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC ENTERPRISES OF LA DBA FOOD ACCESS LOS ANGELES ↗
- Who funds AGRICULTURE AND LAND BASED TRAINING ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds NORTH COAST GROWERS ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds PETALUMA PEOPLE SERVICES CENTER ↗
- Who funds Chico State Enterprises ↗
- Who funds NORTH COAST OPPORTUNITIES INC ↗
- Who funds MODEL NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAM ↗
- Who funds FRESH APPROACH ↗
- Who funds Foodwise Community ↗
- Who funds Modesto Certified Farmers Market ↗
- Who funds EVERYONES HARVEST ↗
- Who funds North County Farmers Market Association ↗
- Who funds Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission ↗
- Who funds Xela AID Partnerships for Self Reliance ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY PARTNERS ↗
- Who funds San Diego County Farm Bureau ↗
- Who funds Palm Springs Cultural Center ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF DOWNTOWN SLO INC ↗
- Who funds JEFFERSON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds San Luis Obispo County Farmers Market Association Inc ↗
- Who funds DOWNTOWN ANAHEIM ASSOCIATION FKA ANAHEIM CENTER ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds DOWNTOWN NAPA FARMERS MARKET CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds COMMUNITY VENTURES ↗
- Who funds THE PACIFIC BEACH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP ↗
- Who funds ROUTE ONE FARMERS MARKET ↗
- Who funds International Rescue Committee INC ↗
- Who funds Orange Home Grown Foundation Inc ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · California Association of Food Banks · The California Endowment · The James Irvine Foundation · Tomkat Ranch Educational Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · East Bay Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · McNabb Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Impactassetsinc
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Ecology Center funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Ecology Center?
Find your warmest path to Ecology Center through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.