How much does Ecology Center give?

Ecology Center reported 50 grants totaling $10,789,057 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 34 and 51 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.

What does Ecology Center fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Food & Nutrition (100%).

Who are Ecology Center's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Heart of the City Farmers Market ($7.7M), Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association ($7.6M), Hunger Action Los Angeles Inc ($4.1M).

Does Ecology Center fund new organizations?

In FY2023, 18% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Ecology Center?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, California Association of Food Banks, The California Endowment.

Ecology Center

Ecology Center at a glance Also receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Ecology Center

Inspiring and building a sustainable, healthy, and just future for the east bay, california, and beyond.

$11M

Granted FY2024still arriving

Grants FY2024still arriving

States reached

$1.9M

Largest

01What it funds

01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Food & Nutrition$44M

02FY2024 · 50 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

Under $10k6 grants · $39k
$10k–50k21 grants · $549k
$50k–250k14 grants · $1.5M
$250k+9 grants · $8.5M

$43,300

Median grant

States reached

$8.8M

Total assets

Largest grants
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

02The need

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its 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 its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

How this is measured

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

How this is measured

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.

03Its grantees

repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.

$44M · 59 repeat orgs$57k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +64% since the first grant, against 0% for those 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

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

Total granted

$44M

$51k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+64%

Still filing today

64%

33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

Food & NutritionCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesEducationInternationalEnvironmentOther

How this is measured

First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

HO
HEART OF THE CITY FARMERS MARKET
8× · 2017–2024 · $7.7M · revenue +103% · 66% of their budget
PC
PACIFIC COAST FARMERS MARKET ASSOCIATION
8× · 2017–2024 · $7.6M · revenue +58% · 32% of their budget
HA
HUNGER ACTION LOS ANGELES INC
8× · 2017–2024 · $4.1M · revenue +245% · 43% of their budget

Funded once

SF
SAN FRANCISCO PARKS ALLIANCE
one grant, 2017 · $13k · revenue -35%
CR
COLLECTIVE ROOTS
one grant, 2017 · $12k
MC
Madera Coalition of Community Justice
one grant, 2023 · $9k · revenue +77%

How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

California Fresh Farmers Market Association

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

Food & Nutrition

Agricultural Community Events Farmers Markets

Promoting local agricultural activities through the formation and management of local farmers' markets. successfully operate multiple farmers' markets in marin county and sonoma county.

Community Improvement

Santa Cruz Community Farmers Market

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.

—

Ojai Community Farmers Market

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

Food & Nutrition

Local Food Network

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…

Food & Nutrition

Tera Farm

To empower limited-resource and small-scale farmers by building connections with their local communities and providing access to shared resources.

Food & Nutrition

Vancouver Farmers Market Assoc

To promote a healthy and vibrant community by providing access to local nourishing food and high-quality artisan products. We support over 200 small businesses by providing direct consumer access, business development support, and…

Community Improvement

Sonoma County Certified Farmers Market Association

Facilitate direct marketing of agricultural products

—

Sebastopol Certified Farmers Market Inc

The purpose of this entity is for the organization of community farmers market in Sebastopol, CA.

—

Hollywood Farmers Market Inc

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…

Food & Nutrition

Yolo Food Bank

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…

Food & Nutrition

Impact Oakland Now

Community Improvement

How this is measured

The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Downtown Napa Farmers Market Corporation; 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.

04the grantee network

47 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)

Early backer (in before they grew)

42/47

Grantees still filing

39/47

Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Other$21,629,661Community Improvement$6,727,720Education$5,289,799Food & Nutrition$4,255,715Environment$3,059,950Human Services$2,751,827International$280,598

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Kaiser Foundation HospitalsCA31.1× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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

How this is measured

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ecology Center funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ecology Center. Bigger dots raise more.

2024

’20’21’22’23’24’25

no gov moneyreceives it· size = income

0get no government money at all

14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)

0rely on government for over half their income

typical government reliance, FY20–25

How this is measured

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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.

05Through Plinth

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.

Play a game based on Ecology Center’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

The endowment market

who holds foundation money, and what just moved

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home