California · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS
CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,757,016 to it, the largest being THE MERICOS FOUNDATION ($465,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $4.4M
What Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens does
Mission
The centers mission is to preserve the agricultural heritage of fairview gardens farm;provide the local community with fresh organically grown fruits and vegetables;demonstrate the economic viability of sustainable agricultural methods for small farm operations; research and interpret the connections between food, land stewardship, and community well-being; and nurture the human spirit through educational programs and public activities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Temporary program adjustment while re-building. In order to better serve the community, the farm and its ageing infrastructure are currently going through a major upgrade. While programming has been scaled back, we continue to provide public events, tours, and programs for the community.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
For generations, fairview gardens farm, one of the longest continuously operated organic agricultural operations in the goleta valley, has fed the urban populations that now surround it, educated and inspired young people about food and farming, trained numerous successful farmers, and provided a gathering place for educational and cultural events. Starting in 2022, fairview gardens undertook an extensive revisioning and planning process for the farm, its ageing infrastructure and its programs. In 2023 the farm ceased agricultural production and programming to focus planning for a major rebuild and the capital campaign to fund this work. In 2025 phase 1 of the farms replanting was initiated with cover crop planting on all fields and the purchase of 145 bare root trees and eight thousand asparagus seedlings.
$166,822 spent$1,445 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $166,822.
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 2024 to 2025, from $2.4M to $4.4M (+81%).
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 7% · 2019 12% · 2020 8% · 2021 16% · 2022 7% · 2023 22% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS’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. 4 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $25k → $214k.
5 of 20 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 CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS’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
CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
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 CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 83% · 2019 83% · 2020 57% · 2021 49% · 2022 56% · 2023 47% — 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
75% of CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
73% of CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $574k 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
CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 605 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 605 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS
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
35% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
33%
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 CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS: 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 CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS?
- CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,757,016 to it, the largest being THE MERICOS FOUNDATION ($465,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,757,016 in grants to CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS?
- THE MERICOS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $465,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE AT FAIRVIEW GARDENS 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 Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens →
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 20 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