California · Nonprofit
AS YOU SOW
AS YOU SOW (California) receives grants from 122 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,786,490 to it, the largest being STEPHEN M SILBERSTEIN FOUNDATION ($1,762,000). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.2M
- Funders on record
- 122
- Grants received
- $21M
- Net assets
- $8.8M
What As You Sow does
Mission
To promote environmental and social corporate responsibility on issues relating to climate change and environmental health; social issues included racial justice and workplace diversity; and toxic ingredients in consumer products.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Climate change, environmental health, and circular economy: As You Sow is working to accelerate a market transformation toward a clean energy economy to mitigate the effects of climate change on the world's populations, ecosystems, and economies. Our climate and energy program exposes the financial and environmental risks of companies involved in coal, oil & gas, and methane; the banks and insurance companies that fund and underwrite these extractive industries; and major polluters including long-haul trucking, global shipping, and concrete and steel production. Our goal is for every company to develop and implement a paris-compliant emissions reduction plan. To do this, we work with investors around the globe to analyze systemic risk and engage corporate leaders to develop better, climate responsive business plans. In these engagements we point out material risks of biodiversity loss and how continued investment in coal, oil, and gas harm the global economy and the companies doing the polluting. We also point out the benefits and opportunities of clean technologies. We research and write original reports, develop financial transparency tools, engage management at major…
$3,066,990 spentof which $90 as grants$338,068 earned by the program57% of program spendingSocial: our social program encompasses racial justice and diversity in the workforce. We research and publish quarterly scorecards covering 3,000 companies on 28 key performance indicators (kpi) related to racial justice and 34 kpis related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the corporate workplace. Our initiatives utilize the data from our scorecards to engage corporations in direct dialogue to discuss how they can reduce risk and increase opportunities on these issues and how it is correlated to increased financial performance. If necessary, we file shareholder resolutions on these topics to escalate the conversation to include all shareholders; these are often voted on at the company annual general meeting. Our goal is to help corporations promote a merit-based hiring and promotion system to attract and retain the best and brightest employees and reduce material risk for all stakeholders.
$542,419 spent10% of program spendingToxic enforcement: working on behalf of the public, As You Sow enforces california's safe drinking water and toxic enforcement act (proposition 65), which requires warnings be provided to consumers prior to exposure to certain chemicals such as formaldehyde, ethyl benzene, toluene, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and other known carcinogens and reproductive toxicants. Since 1992 As You Sow has resolved prop 65 actions through settlements that achieve product reformulations that remove toxics from products or cause warnings to be placed on products that contain toxics including skin whiteners, nail polish, temporary classrooms, vitamin supplements, hair care products, and earbuds. We also administer cy pres awards generated in settlements on other environmental matters. In 2024 we filed 60-day notices and worked to settle actions to result in warnings and reformulations on products including medical foods as well as spinach and other leafy greens.
$133,078 spent2% of program spendingActivate, Biodiversity, Invest Your Values,
Boards, Education, ESG+, Legal Defense
and Research.
$1,674,660 spent31% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,417,147.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.8M to $9.4M (+234%).
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: 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of AS YOU SOW’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (72% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Andrew S Behar
Chief Executive Officer
Board chair
Cari Rudd
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 47 funders, grant income rose $967k → $2.2M.
35 of 122 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 AS YOU SOW’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 122 funders by total. 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
AS YOU SOW has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 8% of grant income, and it takes 12 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 12 funders to its left
38% 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 AS YOU SOW.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 22% · 2019 23% · 2020 22% · 2021 15% · 2022 11% · 2023 20% — broadly stable.
“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
36% of AS YOU SOW's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
AS YOU SOW draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
AS YOU SOW's funding base is broadening — from 32 funders to 47 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 611 unclassified nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like AS YOU SOW
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- As You Know · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AS YOU SOW: 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 AS YOU SOW?
- AS YOU SOW (California) receives grants from 122 organizations whose IRS filings report $20,786,490 to it, the largest being STEPHEN M SILBERSTEIN FOUNDATION ($1,762,000). 70 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AS YOU SOW have?
- IRS filings report 122 organizations giving $20,786,490 in grants to AS YOU SOW, 70 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AS YOU SOW?
- STEPHEN M SILBERSTEIN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,762,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AS YOU SOW 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 122 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