California · Nonprofit
GROUND EDUCATION
GROUND EDUCATION (California) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $820,730 to it, the largest being THE RUDOLPH J & DAPHNE A MUNZER FOUNDATION ($202,540). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $821k
- Net assets
- $437k
What Ground Education does
Mission
Ground Education offers a robust, curriculum-based transitional kindergarten-5th grade outdoor environmental education program delivered during the school day and in summer and after-school settings.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Ground Education partners with long beach public schools to provide year-round garden, health, and environmental awareness experiences for every student during the school day. We directly engage youth to grow the capacity for wonder, cultivate the space to think, explore, and connect, and nurture robust decision-making in the context of the natural world. During the 2024-2025 school year, we provided lessons to 15,000 elementary students in the long beach unified school district--a 15% increase from the prior year--and now have learning gardens and outdoor education programs in 58% of local elementary schools. We also mentored eight interns from csulb, and planted and maintained 32 garden sites. In our end-of-school survey, 99% of teachers reported that participating in Ground Education supports students' social/emotional wellbeing. While we believe every student should spend time learning outdoors, our expansion has focused on schools serving low-income families in underserved long beach neighborhoods. Learn more at www.groundeducation.org.
$552,515 spentof which $3,700 as grants$374,483 earned by the program52% of program spendingIn recent years, we've expanded our school garden program to provide nature-based after-school and summer activities at schools throughout long beach. Through this expanded learning opportunities program (elop), we provided "be an ant" activity days to nearly 3,000 students at 37 school sites during the summer school enrichment session. We also provide sprout club lessons and activities that impact all 53 elementary and k8 schools in lbusd during the school year.
$456,132 spent$465,060 earned by the program43% of program spendingWe deliver weekly garden engagement sessions at two boys & girls club locations in long beach. These after-school and summer youth grow fruits and vegetables - harvesting, cooking and eating with our educator staff.
$62,256 spent6% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,070,903.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $357k to $447k (+25%).
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.
36% of GROUND EDUCATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $19k → $180k.
3 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 GROUND EDUCATION’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
GROUND EDUCATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 52% · 2020 86% · 2021 64% · 2022 46% · 2023 28% — 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
50% of GROUND EDUCATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
96% of GROUND EDUCATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $49k 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
GROUND EDUCATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like GROUND EDUCATION
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 GROUND EDUCATION: 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 GROUND EDUCATION?
- GROUND EDUCATION (California) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $820,730 to it, the largest being THE RUDOLPH J & DAPHNE A MUNZER FOUNDATION ($202,540). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GROUND EDUCATION have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $820,730 in grants to GROUND EDUCATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GROUND EDUCATION?
- THE RUDOLPH J & DAPHNE A MUNZER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $202,540 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GROUND EDUCATION 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 Ground Education →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 25 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing