Massachusetts · Nonprofit
FARM AID INC
FARM AID INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 92 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,333,454 to it, the largest being NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC ($790,409). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 92
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $9.8M
What Farm Aid Inc does
Mission
Farm aid's mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in america. Farm aid artists and board members willie nelson, john mellencamp, neil young, dave matthews and margo price host an annual festival to support farm aid's year-round work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose food from family farms. Since 1985, farm aid has raised more than $89 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the good food movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Helping farmers thrive - through its toll-free number, 1-800-farm-aid, and online farmer resource network directory, farm aid refers and connects farmers to an extensive network of organizations across the country that help farmers find the resources they need to access new markets, transition to more sustainable and profitable farming practices, and receive immediate support services in times of crisis. The organization makes grants to farm and rural service organizations and collaborates with service partners to help build their capacity for addressing farmer challenges and needs. Farm aid grants also support the farm advocate link, a national network of farm advocates who provide one-on-one services to family farmers. The farm advocate link's mission is to train, support and recruit a new generation of farm advocates. When natural disasters strike and affect farmers, farm aid's family farm disaster fund raises funds to help farmers in the immediate aftermath and provide trainings to farmers for accessing disaster aid and for building on-farm resilience to prepare for future disasters.
$2,688,950 spentof which $919,756 as grants$600 earned by the program59% of program spendingTaking action to change the system - farm aid seeks to advance the power and participation of farmers to change the american farm and food system. Farm aid works with and makes grants to local, regional and national organizations to promote fair farm policies and grassroots organizing campaigns designed to defend and bolster family farm-centered agriculture. Farm aid's action center engages people to become advocates for change. The organization has worked side-by-side with farmers to protest factory farms and inform farmers and eaters about issues like genetically modified food, global trade, and industrial livestock production. Farm aid serves as a leader and contributing member of collaborative efforts to bring attention to the varied challenges faced by family farmers and to encourage collaboration and collective problem solving. Farm aid's farmer leadership fund defrays expenses for farmer leadership trainings, strategy meetings and other opportunities to elevate the voices of family farmers.
$935,868 spentof which $387,131 as grants20% of program spendingPromoting food from family farms - the heart of farm aid's work to promote food from family farms is the annual farm aid festival, america's longest running annual music event with a mission, which unites farmers, artists, music lovers and eaters to celebrate family farmers and mobilizes people to build a powerful movement for good food from family farms. The organization's annual festival features family farm food throughout the venue with farm aid's homegrown concessions, fostering strong relationships among farmers, food companies, concessionaires and festivalgoers. The homegrown youthmarket sells local produce from family farmers and is staffed by local youth engaged in agriculture. In the homegrown village, dozens of farm and food groups engage festivalgoers in hands-on experiences about farming, food, soil, water, and renewable energy. In addition to its annual festival, farm aid engages people in the culture of agriculture through smaller regional events and with its inspiring and informative social and media campaigns that connect eaters and farmers through cooking, eating, and growing. Farm aid 2024 was held at broadview stage at saratoga performing arts center in…
$495,161 spent$36,116 earned by the program11% of program spendingGrowing the good food movement (ggfm)- farm aid and its partners support and implement strategies that bolster the good food movement - the growing number of people seeking family farm-identified, local, organic or humanely-raised food with economic justice for farmers. Farm aid provides grants to grassroots organizations that foster connections between farmers and eaters by growing and strengthening local and regional markets and expanding the reach of family farm food into urban neighborhoods, grocery stores, restaurants, schools and other public institutions.
$463,626 spentof which $146,250 as grants10% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,583,605.
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 $3.5M to $11M (+210%).
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: 2021 2% · 2022 5% · 2023 6% · 2024 24%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
73% of FARM AID INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Willie Nelson
Chairman/director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $144k → $722k.
23 of 92 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 FARM AID INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 92 funders by total. 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
FARM AID INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
69% 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 FARM AID INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 47% · 2019 36% · 2020 30% · 2021 26% · 2022 35% · 2023 43% — 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
49% of FARM AID INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
FARM AID INC draws 93% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 21 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 19 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
FARM AID INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,130 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,130 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding FARM AID INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.2M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$4.2M
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 FARM AID INC
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 29 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FARM AID INC: 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 FARM AID INC?
- FARM AID INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 92 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,333,454 to it, the largest being NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC ($790,409). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FARM AID INC have?
- IRS filings report 92 organizations giving $4,333,454 in grants to FARM AID INC, 47 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FARM AID INC?
- NATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC is the largest funder on record, with $790,409 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FARM AID INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 92 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