Michigan · Nonprofit
CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP
CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP (Michigan) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,135 to it, the largest being THREE RIVERS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($15,350). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $170k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $16k
- Net assets
- $49k
What Culture Is Not Optional Nfp does
Mission
Religious / Educational
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Community development: Food access and education. One of the most fundamental ways we embody what we believe is how we grow, buy, and eat food. Our food access and education programs include an Urban farm, Farmers Market, summer lunch program, food distribution, food event, and a published local food guide. Approximately 8,500 people participated in our food programming in 2023.
$41,625 spent81% of program spendingDolly Parton's Imagination Library. In 2021, we became an affiliate for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, allowing us to provide children who are five and under free books every month, delivered directly to their homes. 317 children currently enrolled.
$5,000 spent10% of program spendingCommunity development: Back to School Celebration distributes school supplies to neighbor children, Service-Learning Experiences provide opportunities to educate groups using our land as an experiential learning classroom, and Intentional community. 600 people.
$4,929 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $51,554.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2023 to 2024, from $276k to $49k (−82%).
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.
94% of CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Julie Keefer
Board President
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $10k → $53.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP’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
CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 95% 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
97% 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 CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 85% · 2022 100% · 2023 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
97% of CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP'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 $500 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Michigan funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $16k 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
CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP has grown faster than half of the 12,816 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,816 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
65%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP: 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 CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP?
- CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP (Michigan) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,135 to it, the largest being THREE RIVERS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($15,350). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $16,135 in grants to CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP?
- THREE RIVERS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $15,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CULTURE IS NOT OPTIONAL NFP find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Culture Is Not Optional Nfp →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), 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