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California · Nonprofit

Ecological Farming Association

Ecological Farming Association (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $525,581 to it, the largest being The James Irvine Foundation ($200,875). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$995k
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$526k
Net assets
$163k
9/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 17%
01What it does

What Ecological Farming Association does

Mission

To advance ecologically sound and economically viable agriculture.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Ecological Farming Conference: This conference is held at Asilomar Conference Grounds and offers approximately 60 workshops on innovative farming techniques and sustainable food systems. Over 1,800 participants attend the conference.

    $725,611 spent$799,964 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $725,611.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.1M) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 100 ($166k)2018 Revenue 101 ($1.1M) Expenses 98 ($1.1M) Net assets 118 ($197k)2019 Revenue 91 ($1.0M) Expenses 91 ($998k) Net assets 124 ($206k)2020 Revenue 103 ($1.1M) Expenses 104 ($1.1M) Net assets 122 ($203k)2021 Revenue 56 ($616k) Expenses 53 ($587k) Net assets 139 ($231k)2022 Revenue 48 ($534k) Expenses 60 ($664k) Net assets 60 ($100k)2023 Revenue 81 ($892k) Expenses 87 ($951k) Net assets 22 ($37k)2024 Revenue 72 ($797k) Expenses 76 ($838k) Net assets -2 ($-3786)2025 Revenue 90 ($995k) Expenses 75 ($829k) Net assets 98 ($163k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (90)Expenses (75)Net assets (98)Peer revenue range

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 $22k to $184k (+743%).

$199k
$313k
$246k
$211k
$241k
$139k
$105k
$22k
$184k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 5% · 2021 9% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

2% of Ecological Farming Association’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (94% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 3,373 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$3k
’17
$31k
’18
$10k
’19
−$1k
’20
$29k
’21
−$130k
’22
−$59k
’23
−$41k
’24
$166k
’25
2.5
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed1011131199141111
Joined·+1+2+1+2+0+6+0+1
No longer listed·00340131
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $7k → $31k.

3 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 Ecological Farming 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

Ecological Farming Association leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

38%
largest funder
72%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 85% · 2018 40% · 2019 55% · 2020 69% · 2021 64% · 2022 55% · 2023 32% — 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

63% of Ecological Farming Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

94% of Ecological Farming Association's grant income comes from California funders.

MN
IL
CA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Ecological Farming Association runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,936 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.

Operating margin17% · above the median
Months of reserve2.5mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,936 food & nutrition nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding Ecological Farming Association receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1k on record.

State$1k
Top programs
  • Registration - Agency Direct$1k

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 Ecological Farming 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

88% of spending goes to programs.

Program 88%Management 10%Fundraising 2%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ecological Farming 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Ecological Farming Association?
Ecological Farming Association (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $525,581 to it, the largest being The James Irvine Foundation ($200,875). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Ecological Farming Association have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $525,581 in grants to Ecological Farming Association, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Ecological Farming Association?
The James Irvine Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $200,875 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Ecological Farming 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.

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 19 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