California · Nonprofit
ALCHEMIST CDC
ALCHEMIST CDC (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,528,783 to it, the largest being ECOLOGY CENTER ($3,440,094). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.5M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $4.5M
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What Alchemist CDC does
Mission
Alchemist CDC connects sacramento area communities to land, food, and opportunity toward a vision in which all neighborhoods are vibrant, equitable, healthy, and diverse. We are best known for enhancing the quality of life in under-resourced communities by improving access to nutritious foods, implementing community-supported public green spaces, and fostering economic self-sufficiency through business entrepreneurship.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Farmers' markets operations in 2024, Alchemist CDC took over management of two established farmers' markets in sacramento including: florin certified farmers' market and rancho cordova certified farmers' market (formerly sunrise certified farmers' market). Alchemist also launched meadowview certified farmers' market in the meadowview neighborhood in south sacramento - an area that is considered a food desert. Three experienced market managers were hired to coordinate operations of these markets. Between march and december of 2024, alchemist's three certified farmers' markets were open for a combined 110 market days, providing a space for 110,929 customers to buy locally-grown food from a combined 92 small, family farmers.
$172,688 spentof which $14,202 as grants$163,087 earned by the program13% of program spendingNeighborhood empowerment & community gardens: Alchemist CDC is committed to working with local neighbors to remake blighted land into vibrant, neighborhood amenities through direct community engagement, design and hands-on participation in creating public gardens and community gathering spaces. These projects include: the oak park art garden (under construction and not yet available for public use); oak park sol community garden (featuring 17 rentable plots, an outdoor kitchen and children's garden/creative space); and the pansy community garden park (featuring 9 rentable plots, children's playground, picnic area and 5 fruit trees). Alchemist CDC also provides community engagement and operational support for the mirasol village community garden, featuring 68 plots, over 30 fruit trees and grape vines, and an outdoor kitchen and education area. These publicly accessible community spaces provide a place to grow food, express and share creativity,demonstrate sustainable practices, share knowledge and build community connectivity.
$152,329 spent$186,145 earned by the program11% of program spendingCalfresh at farmers' markets: provided calfresh (supplemental nutrition assistance benefits) processing services for 9 farmers' markets, and technical assistance to an additional 12 partner markets and farm stands, to ensure that low-income populations have equitable access to healthy food. Alchemist also implemented the market match incentive program, that matched calfresh benefits spent at farmers' markets with additional funds to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from california farmers. Market match empowers low-income shoppers to make healthy food choices by overcoming financial barriers. In 2024, Alchemist CDC processed 45,576 calfresh transactions, and facilitated the distribution of 798,231 in calfresh benefits, and 802,824 in market match incentives to low-income households (combined Alchemist CDC and partner markets).
$380,313 spent$515,445 earned by the program28% of program spendingCommunity food connections (cfc): provided food access support to 296 families identified by sacramento unified school district (scusd) staff as food, housing, and/or transportation insecure enrolled in 47 scusd schools (1,289 people supported monthly, 60% were children). This included 23,367 in fresh seasonal produce procured from local farmers, which was distributed to targeted food-insecure families. Spearheaded a project to impact food security school-wide by increasing participation in school-provided breakfast, while expanding program capacity to provide targeted school-based and home delivery of food boxes, focused on vulnerable subgroups, identifying improvement opportunities for the scusd nutrition services team. Additionally, launched community meals, a monthly event where unhoused families, part of the city of sacramento project homekey motel voucher program, are offered nutritious meals that can be replicated with their limited resources, while helping them connect with other resources to help them meet their basic needs. Community volunteers and students supported cfc providing over 2,104 hours to pack, deliver and/or support the event logistics at the community…
$655,519 spent$3,356,693 earned by the program48% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,360,849.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $2.2M to $4.2M (+94%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 40% · 2018 12% · 2019 19% · 2020 29% · 2021 75% · 2022 32% · 2023 65% · 2024 65%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of ALCHEMIST CDC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $165k → $1.1M.
4 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ALCHEMIST CDC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ALCHEMIST CDC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
87% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ALCHEMIST CDC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 93% · 2019 84% · 2020 54% · 2021 88% · 2022 85% · 2023 67% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
33% of ALCHEMIST CDC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
86% of ALCHEMIST CDC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $61k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ALCHEMIST CDC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding ALCHEMIST CDC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.3M on record.
- Department of Commerce$3.9M
- Department of Agriculture$464k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like ALCHEMIST CDC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ALCHEMIST CDC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ALCHEMIST CDC?
- ALCHEMIST CDC (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,528,783 to it, the largest being ECOLOGY CENTER ($3,440,094). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ALCHEMIST CDC have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $4,528,783 in grants to ALCHEMIST CDC, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ALCHEMIST CDC?
- ECOLOGY CENTER is the largest funder on record, with $3,440,094 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ALCHEMIST CDC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 26 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing