California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA FARMLINK
CALIFORNIA FARMLINK (California) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,238,444 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($3,850,300). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $15M
What California Farmlink does
Mission
As a community development financial institution, we invest in the prosperity and well-being of farmers, ranchers, and fishers who have limited access to financial resources. See schedule o for more information.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Farmlink's business and innovation program houses new and emerging programs. Solarfresco is a new program to help small-scale farmers and farmers of color to lead the transition to climate-smart cooling. The solarfresco program helps low-income farmers acquire low, or no-cost solar-powered coolers to build wealth, profitability, and sustainability, while lowering their carbon footprint. These investments strengthen food systems by helping farmers reduce food waste and reliance on conventional power, build equity in real assets, and sell in more profitable and sustainable markets. Business skills development: in 2024, farmlink established the business skills development program to facilitate one-on-one technical assistance for loan readiness and ongoing compliance with loan conditions, including education on small business tax preparation and bookkeeping assistance.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Farmlink's lending program provides flexibly structured financing to underserved, low-income, beginning farmers, ranchers and fishers across california for operating, equipment and land purchase loans. This program serves borrowers who would otherwise have a difficult time securing financing due to limited history as entrepreneurs, limited traditional capital, little or no credit history, small loan size, language barriers, or non-traditional marketing and business models. In 2024, farmlink originated 40 loans ($13,388,874 in total volume) with an average size of $334,721.
$2,121,871 spentof which $40,000 as grants$1,762,885 earned by the program47% of program spendingLand and business (lab) programs. There are three related land and business programs: equity and conservation on working lands (ecwl), resilience and wealth building (rwb) and business and innovation (b&I). In 2024, farmlink staff provided direct, individual technical assistance to 313 farmers and ranchers across these programs. Throughout its programming, farmlink employs the "client journey", a client-centric service philosophy to harness the organizational pillars of land, capital and education toward the overall goal of business stability, operational advancement, and overall risk management of the organization's growing outstanding loan portfolio.
$2,408,634 spent$19,115 earned by the program53% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,530,505.
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 $18M to $30M (+66%).
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 56% · 2018 62% · 2019 22% · 2020 36% · 2021 33% · 2022 30% · 2023 62% · 2024 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of CALIFORNIA FARMLINK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Reginald V Knox
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Chris Mittlesteadt
President & chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $291k → $2.1M.
13 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 CALIFORNIA FARMLINK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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
CALIFORNIA FARMLINK has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 38% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
45% 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 CALIFORNIA FARMLINK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 43% · 2019 74% · 2020 46% · 2021 31% · 2022 17% · 2023 27% — growing more concentrated.
“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
24% of CALIFORNIA FARMLINK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
67% of CALIFORNIA FARMLINK's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
CALIFORNIA FARMLINK has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CALIFORNIA FARMLINK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15.9M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$11.0M
- Department of Agriculture$3.9M
- Small Business Administration$1.0M
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 CALIFORNIA FARMLINK
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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 CALIFORNIA FARMLINK: 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 CALIFORNIA FARMLINK?
- CALIFORNIA FARMLINK (California) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,238,444 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($3,850,300). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA FARMLINK have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $10,238,444 in grants to CALIFORNIA FARMLINK, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA FARMLINK?
- THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,850,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA FARMLINK 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 California Farmlink →
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 43 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