California · Nonprofit
COLLECTIVE ROOTS
COLLECTIVE ROOTS (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,291 to it, the largest being Leonard C & Mildred F Ferguson Foundation ($40,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2017
- $192k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $54k
- Net assets
- $92k
What Collective Roots does
Mission
We aim to cultivate a healthier, stronger, more connected east palo alto (epa) community by working together to build a robust community-based food system. Epas deep history of agriculture shows cultivation of food strengthens people and fortifies communities. As part of the industrious epa community, we seek to foster more communal growing, sharing, and eating of fresh, local produce through our three pillars: growing (gardening), sharing (gardening/cooking/nutrition education), and eating (healthy food access)
As stated on its FY2017 Form 990.
Program
To foster a healthier, stronger, more connected east palo alto community through a community-based food system, we focus our programming on three pillars - growing, sharing, eating. Growing (gardening): by involving the community in building a strong network of collaboration and sharing through our collective gardening network (cgn - formerly known as the bgn or backyard gardener network), we support community gardening efforts and effect change from the ground up. Were building a strong, sustainable network of local growers who feed themselves, their neighbors, and friends, and help other community members learn to do the same. We provide needed resources and opportunities to support the capacity of community members of all ages and circumstances to grow their produce inexpensively and sustainably in an environmentally and socially responsible manner, as well as to exchange knowledge and forge relationships. Sharing (gardening/cooking/nutrition education): through our monthly workshops, we are able to share valuable information by instructing community members how to grow their own produce, how to cook what they grow, and why they should eat what they grow by helping them learn…
The first program described on its most recent Form 990, which lists programs largest first by expense.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2018: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $39k → $15k.
From the IRS filings of COLLECTIVE ROOTS’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
COLLECTIVE ROOTS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
COLLECTIVE ROOTS draws 78% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.
Organizations like COLLECTIVE ROOTS
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
80% 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 COLLECTIVE ROOTS: 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 COLLECTIVE ROOTS?
- COLLECTIVE ROOTS (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,291 to it, the largest being Leonard C & Mildred F Ferguson Foundation ($40,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COLLECTIVE ROOTS have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $54,291 in grants to COLLECTIVE ROOTS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLLECTIVE ROOTS?
- Leonard C & Mildred F Ferguson Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $40,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLLECTIVE ROOTS 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 Collective Roots →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2017 (financials across 2017–2017), 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