California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION
CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,663 to it, the largest being Sacramento Region Community Foundation ($11,293). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $131k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $20k
- Net assets
- $162k
What California Native Grass Association does
Mission
The mission of the California Native Grasslands Association is to promote, preserve, and restore the diversity of California's native grasses and grassland ecosystems through education, advocacy, research, and stewardship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
EDUCATION AND OUTREACHWe provide information to the general public through our website and by responding to information requests. We received and answered over 32 requests for complex information on grassland restoration techniques, management, conservation, urban landscaping, propagation and other questions covering a wide range of conditions in different areas within the state.Directors and Advisory Committee Members made 2 site visit consultations. 2025 October 18 - With the help of Jim Hanson, Advisory Committee Member, we scheduled a fieldtrip/workday for a San Jose State University college class to the Fossil Hill project site in Walnut Creek, to illustrate the principles and approach that both Phil Johnson and Glen Schneider use to convert annual weedy grasslands to native plant community mosaics. 2025 November 19 CNGA Director JP Marie met Glide Ranch representative Lyle Wilen at the ranch to address their request for advice on planting low-stature, non-annual reseeding grass on 15 acres to control weeds.PODCAST INTERVIEW2025 January 12. Exploring the World with Da Potato Sisters interviewed CNGA Director and grassland researcher Brooke Wainwright for their episode titled,…
$49,363 spent100% of program spendingWORKSHOPS and EVENTS1. CNGA 2025 Science-Based Symposium: Better Grasslands Through KnowledgeThe California Native Grasslands Association hosted its first science-based symposium in 15 years. The 2-day symposium was held on February 6 and 7, 2025 at Hopland Research and Extension Center. Each morning of this two-day conference began with keynote addresses from experts in the field and continue with themed sessions.Attendance: 124Field trips on Wednesday and Saturday were hosted by Grace Hudson Museum Wild Gardens in Ukiah, Heritage Growers Native Seed Amplification Facility, Pepperwood Preserve in Santa Rosa, and Willits Bypass Mitigation Project in Willits. Attendance: 99Presentation slides and posters from our February 2025 Science Symposium are now available on the CNGA website.2. CNGA 17th Annual Field Day at Hedgerow Farms, April 4, 2025. Attendance: 1173. Student Research Seminar Series Featuring GRASS Scholarship Awardees. Seven on-line presentations on Tuesday evenings. Total Attendance: 166
CONFERENCESCNGA sponsored and exhibited our information at these conferences; Presentations by Directors and GRASS Scholars are noted below: 2025 Northern California Botanists Symposium, Chico State University January 13 to 15, 20252025 California Rangeland Coalition Conference, Robert Cabral Ag Center, Stockton on March 4, 20252025 SERCAL Conference, Sacramento CA, April 2025. Attendance: 4502025 Cal-IPC Symposium Ventura CA, in person & online, November 12-15, 2025. Attendance: Over 600 attendees. Presentations by CNGA Advisory Committee Member Tanya Myer and GRASS Scholars Rebecca Nelson, Katherine Brafford, and Joanna Tang. Attendance: Over 600 attendees.
PUBLICATIONSGRASSLANDS JOURNALWe published four issues of CNGA's quarterly journal, Grasslands, with feature articles about native grasses, restoration, land management, current conservation efforts, and (of course) grassland habitat. CNGA members can opt for print or digital editions. Digital editions are available to all interested public on our website. GRASS BLAST! EMAIL COMMUNICATIONSWe sent monthly Grass Blast! emails to our contact list with news on CNGA activities and events, conservation, current research, and news items relating to California's grassland ecosystems.SPECIAL EMAIL OUTRACHStipa pulchra Day Blast email on Friday, August 22, 2025 to 2300 contacts containing comprehensive information about California's state grass (replicated here: California Native Grasslands Association - Purple Needlegrass Stipa pulchra).
CONSERVATION ADVOCACYThe CNGA Conservation Committee is committed to advocating for the conservation and restoration of native grassland ecosystems, including conservation of native grassland habitats as a part of the 30 by 30 initiative (protection of 30 percent of the earth's surface by 2030). The committee supported or participated in several specific conservation issues in 2025 including:- May 22, 2025 letter to State supporting funding for seed supply (California Native Seed Supply Collaborative) - Tesla Park Classification Process continued support for Tesla as a State Reserve Commented on and attended workshops on the Alameda Tesla Classification and General Plan hosted by CA State Parks October 31, 2025 - Joint comment letter on State parks Two Proposed Concept plans for Alameda=Tesla Property
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $49,363.
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 $92k to $158k (+72%).
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.
83% of CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION’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. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $526 → $8k.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION’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
CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% 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
58% 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 NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 82% · 2020 98% · 2021 98% · 2022 97% · 2023 79% — 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.
Where its funders are
58% of CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $8k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION has grown faster than half of the 2,433 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,433 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION
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.
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION: 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 NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION?
- CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,663 to it, the largest being Sacramento Region Community Foundation ($11,293). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $19,663 in grants to CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION?
- Sacramento Region Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $11,293 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA NATIVE GRASS ASSOCIATION 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 Native Grass Association →
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 3 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