Illinois · Nonprofit
FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION
FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $597,046 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($406,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $233k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $597k
- Net assets
- $322k
What Frontera Farmer Foundation does
Mission
To provide assistance to poor and needy families in rural farming communities and to organizations which promote agricultural studies and protection of the environment.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
To promote small, sustainable farms serving the chicago area by providing them with capital development grants.
$187,363 spentof which $181,638 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $187,363.
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 2017 to 2018, from $337k to $240k (−29%).
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.
100% of FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Chief executive
Deann Bayless
Exec. Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $16k → $1k.
7 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% 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 FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION’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
FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 91% · 2022 91% · 2023 98% — 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.
How long its funders stay
14% of FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 17% 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
92% of FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION'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 $49k that is directly attributable, 64% of it comes from funders outside Illinois, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $549k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,974 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,974 food & nutrition nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION: 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 FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION?
- FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $597,046 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($406,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $597,046 in grants to FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $406,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRONTERA FARMER FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Frontera Farmer →
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 12 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