Massachusetts · Nonprofit
BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC
BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,425,253 to it, the largest being BERKSHIRE TACONIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($740,928). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Berkshire Agricultural Ventures Inc does
Mission
Berkshire agricultural ventures' mission is to support local farms and strengthen local food systems. We provide business assistance, flexible loans, and strategic resources to farmers and food producers in berkshire county, ma; litchfield county, ct; and columbia and dutchess counties, ny. In 2024, we provided over $420,000 in loans and served approximately 100 clients with well over 2,000 hours of business assistance. Our work has an impact on our local economy and community by helping farms grow and thrive, expanding access to local food, and keeping land in agriculture.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Technical assistance: organization provides business and operational technical assistance to area farms and food businesses to improve business and local food system resiliency. Services include cohort-based learning and networking opportunities, workshops, business planning, grantwriting, online resources, climate risk assessments and adaptation recommendations, financial readiness, and other engagements.
$289,191 spentof which $18,008 as grants28% of program spendingMarket match - organization provides grants to 11 area farmers markets to provide matching dollars for eligible food purchases made with snap and other food security programs. Program increases consumer purchasing power, sales to local farmers, and viability of local markets.
$159,798 spentof which $122,580 as grants16% of program spendingLending: organization provides low-cost, flexible loans to food producers through revolving loan funds, addressing underserved needs for low-cost capital for necessary capital investments. Typical loan purposes include bridge loans for reimbursement based grants, working capital, and equipment loans.
$238,871 spent23% of program spendingOther - organization engages with food producers, economic development organizations, and municipal leaders to understand systemic opportunities to strengthen local value chains and access to markets. Organization engages in work to mitigate climate risks and facilitate on farm climate adaptation.
$333,198 spentof which $20,000 as grants33% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,021,058.
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 2020 to 2021, from $655k to $1.6M (+147%).
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 2% · 2022 21% · 2023 25% · 2024 43% · 2025 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 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
Rebecca Busansky
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $1k → $421k.
7 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
47% 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 BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 67% · 2019 62% · 2020 55% · 2021 70% · 2022 63% · 2023 21% — 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
44% of BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC draws 59% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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
BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 655 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 655 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$2.1M
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 BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC: 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 BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC?
- BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,425,253 to it, the largest being BERKSHIRE TACONIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($740,928). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $2,425,253 in grants to BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC?
- BERKSHIRE TACONIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $740,928 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL VENTURES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 39 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing