North Carolina · Nonprofit
BUILDING FROM BELOW
BUILDING FROM BELOW (North Carolina) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,000 to it, the largest being ELIAS FOUNDATION ($30,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $237k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $45k
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What Building From Below does
Mission
Building From Below is dedicated to research, education, and practical experimentation to support the creation of sustainable, self-determining communities. Our work is based on an organic farm and learning center where we build our vision for a democratic, egalitarian, and sustainable society by investigating the shifting social and ecological landscape and developing practicable alternative forms of organization such as worker cooperatives, agro-ecological farming, and affordable, energy-efficient housing.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Farming and education programs:Building From Below has established an organic farm rooted in ecological principles and community participation and education. The farm not only produces healthy and affordable food (vegetables, fruits, grains, and livestock), but is working to strengthen local agriculture through cooperative networks. The farm is an integral site for youth and adult educational programming and is host to visitors and events.
$35,310 spent$20,981 earned by the program14% of program spendingJob training and cooperative small business development:Building From Below provided job training and worker cooperative business development support through bilingual workshops and training on worker cooperative models, business finances, business planning, conflict resolution, communication, facilitation, marketing, etc. In order to support the formation and growth of worker cooperatives that provide dignified work opportunities.
$171,642 spent$582 earned by the program70% of program spendingAffordable and quality housing:Building From Below has increased access to affordable and quality housing whereby residents have decision-making in meeting their housing needs. Building From Below has worked with residents to identify housing needs, barriers, and solutions to accessing affordable housing.
$38,060 spent$100,084 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $245,012.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.9M to $2.5M (+34%).
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.
30% of BUILDING FROM BELOW’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income held at $10k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 BUILDING FROM BELOW’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
BUILDING FROM BELOW leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
33% 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 BUILDING FROM BELOW.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 60% · 2022 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
BUILDING FROM BELOW draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 1 state in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
BUILDING FROM BELOW is better cushioned than half of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like BUILDING FROM BELOW
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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% 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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Helianthus LLC · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BUILDING FROM BELOW: 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 BUILDING FROM BELOW?
- BUILDING FROM BELOW (North Carolina) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,000 to it, the largest being ELIAS FOUNDATION ($30,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BUILDING FROM BELOW have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $45,000 in grants to BUILDING FROM BELOW, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUILDING FROM BELOW?
- ELIAS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $30,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUILDING FROM BELOW find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 Building From Below →
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 2 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