California · Nonprofit
BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER
BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,532,128 to it, the largest being The Zannon Family Foundation ($463,627). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $534k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center does
Mission
Blue sky center is a rural, place-based nonprofit organization with the mission to strengthen our rural communities within the cuyama valley by supporting entrepreneurs and building our regional creative & economic resources.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Community research and development:This past summer, two major wildfires swept through the region, burning more than 212,000 acres and putting our community directly at risk. Families faced evacuations, air quality reached hazardous levels, and local ranches endured substantial losses. In response, we collaborated closely with the U.S. Forest Service, CalFire Team 8, and Bureau of Land Management fire crews to support frontline efforts. We opened the L88 Airstrip to emergency response teams and mobilized our campus as a dedicated operations hub. The fires underscored how crucial our work is and proved that our ability to respond to climate crises is essential for the safety of our community. Our resiliency initiative Resilient Cuyama Valley addresses longstanding barriers to education, employment, and climate resilience. Resilient Cuyama brings together diverse partners committed to rural regeneration and community resilience to connect Cuyama families with practical resources that strengthen individual and community well-being.
$280,548 spent$368,390 earned by the program44% of program spendingEconomic Development through various programs including:"Explore Cuyama" - With our partners at the Cuyama Buckhorn, we are continuing to lay the groundwork to establish the Cuyama Valley as a treasured regional tourist destination through shared efforts and the Visit Cuyama campaign. At our 267-acre property, we have expanded our capacity for the types of events and gatherings that we can host. Made in Cuyama is our motto that runs throughout the organization. Economic development is the umbrella for our work, with three specific arenas: creative community engagement, food security, and community research. These are our strategies for supporting entrepreneurs and building our regional creative and economic resources, so that life for all Cuyama residents is resilient, thriving, and inclusive. At the Blue Sky Center property, we continue to host local craftspeople in the Blue Sky Shops. We provide space to work and one-on-one technical assistance for sustaining and growing their unique businesses
$211,258 spent$368,818 earned by the program33% of program spendingCreative Community Engagement:In 2025, we hosted six visiting artists who engaged the 1,100 people of the Cuyama Valley on the priorities and issues Cuyama faces. We discussed water stewardship and resiliency, and we celebrated with food and music. We created art as economic development by employing artists and community creators. We hosted the Cuyama Water Justice Fellowships, funded by a larger California Environmental Protection Agency grant. Rae Garringer created a podcast with Cuyama residents in both English and Spanish about the Valley's water crisis. Documentary filmmakers Alex Brown and Sean Huntley collaborated with the community on The Dry Horizon. Ash Hanson and Alex Barreto Hathaway of PlaceBase Productions led the puppet-filled Celebrate Agua parade, singing and drumming with the River Saint and Thirsty Monster to respect this precious resource for Cuyama. Amplify Artist Al Oard taught students to build music electronics and supported our tenth annual Da de los Muertos Festival. In partnership with PlaceBase Productions and Cuyama Valley Recreation District, we received an Arts in California Parks grant for Resilient Cuyama Drama, a program of free, community-focused…
$75,671 spent$155,581 earned by the program12% of program spendingAll other programs
$47,257 spent$213,773 earned by the program7% of program spendingFood and Agriculture:Blue Sky Center has made significant strides in advancing food security in the Cuyama Valley over the last decade. Throughout this time, our work has focused on overcoming the deep-rooted challenges of access to affordable, healthy food in a region defined by its rural isolation and agricultural abundance that paradoxically lacks the infrastructure to serve its own community's food needs.
$26,039 spent$11,260 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $640,773.
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 $1.4M to $1.2M (−14%).
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: 2018 2% · 2019 12% · 2020 25% · 2021 32% · 2022 10% · 2023 39% · 2024 44%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $454k → $81k.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER’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
BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
40% 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 BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 92% · 2018 99% · 2019 73% · 2020 54% · 2021 41% · 2022 77% · 2023 37% — 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
63% of BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER'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
97% of BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $514k 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
BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1.5M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $382k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$312k
- National Endowment for the Arts$70k
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 BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER: 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 BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER?
- BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,532,128 to it, the largest being The Zannon Family Foundation ($463,627). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $1,532,128 in grants to BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER?
- The Zannon Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $463,627 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER 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.
Play a game about who funds Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center →
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 14 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