California · Nonprofit
IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED
IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,284,061 to it, the largest being WAVERLEY STREET FOUNDATION ($1,100,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $3.3M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Ideagarden Institute Incorporated does
Mission
To cultivate the success and enduring impact of mission-driven entrepreneurs emerging from University programs whose food systems innovations will positively transform culture, community, climate, health and social equity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Ideagarden Institute is a non-profit social venture incubator, established in 2021, that is transforming the way we nurture and develop the next generation of diverse food system innovators and their enterprises. Ideagarden provides a unique greenhouse environment in which emerging entrepreneurs can grow their novel food system ideas from seed to sustainable enterprise. The greenhouse model provides an ecosystem of resources, strategic guidance and catalytic capital to enable entrepreneurs and their initiatives to flourish. Ideagardens flagship initiativethe first to emerge from its greenhouse Plant Futurescontinued to grow meaningfully in size, scope and impact. In 2023, Plant Future engaged over 3,104 students and expanded its Student Chapters Network to 36 universities, with 68% being female-founded and led. The year began with a two-day communal learning and networking event, the Plant Futures Symposium, featuring over 30 esteemed thought leaders and speakers, including thought leaders Marion Nestle and Chef Michel Nischan, attracting 280 attendees in person and over 400 virtually. This event showcased our international network of Plant Futurists and set the stage for…
$866,746 spentof which $100,500 as grants$4,629 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $866,746.
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 $683k to $2.5M (+264%).
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.
98% of IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 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
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $128k → $796k.
9 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 19 of 20 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
IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 60%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
57% 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 IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 59% · 2022 56% · 2023 38% — 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.
Where its funders are
80% of IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED runs a healthier operating margin 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 IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $40k on record.
- Environmental Protection Agency$40k
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 IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED: 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 IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED?
- IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,284,061 to it, the largest being WAVERLEY STREET FOUNDATION ($1,100,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $3,284,061 in grants to IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED?
- WAVERLEY STREET FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IDEAGARDEN INSTITUTE INCORPORATED 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 FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 20 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