Massachusetts · Nonprofit
MILL CITY GROWS INC
MILL CITY GROWS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,743,939 to it, the largest being THE 1434 FOUNDATION INC ($425,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
MILL CITY GROWS INC 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
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Anna B Stearns Charitable Foundation Incshared funderslocal
- Green Leaf Foundation Nushin Kormi Et Al Trusteesportfolio match
- Whole Cities Foundationportfolio match
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.
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: 2017 27% · 2018 17% · 2019 18% · 2020 27% · 2021 39% · 2022 29% · 2023 28% · 2024 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
81% of MILL CITY GROWS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 30 funders, grant income rose $268k → $512k.
7 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 MILL CITY GROWS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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
MILL CITY GROWS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
46% 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 MILL CITY GROWS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 21% · 2019 17% · 2020 19% · 2021 13% · 2022 11% · 2023 13% — 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
61% of MILL CITY GROWS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
91% of MILL CITY GROWS INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $527k 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 62 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Anna B Stearns Charitable Foundation Incshared funderslocalMA · backs 39 organizations that share your funders · funds 68 organizations near you
- Green Leaf Foundation Nushin Kormi Et Al Trusteesportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Whole Cities Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Whole Foods Market Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- UNFI Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Fair Food Network Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Giving Groveportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Community Services Unlimited Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Franklin Square House Foundation Incshared fundersMA · backs 38 organizations that share your funders
- Wellington Management Foundationshared funderslocalMA · backs 47 organizations that share your funders · funds 86 organizations near you
- Bushrod H Campbell & Adah F Hall Charity Fundshared funderslocalMA · backs 119 organizations that share your funders · funds 233 organizations near you
- Edward S & Winifred G Moseley Foundationshared fundersMA · backs 30 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding MILL CITY GROWS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record — $1.1M federal, $1.0M state.
- Department of Agriculture$1.1M
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$1.0M
- (RR) BENEFIT PROGRAMS$360
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 MILL CITY GROWS INC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 MILL CITY GROWS 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MILL CITY GROWS INC?
- MILL CITY GROWS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,743,939 to it, the largest being THE 1434 FOUNDATION INC ($425,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MILL CITY GROWS INC have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $3,743,939 in grants to MILL CITY GROWS INC, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MILL CITY GROWS INC?
- THE 1434 FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $425,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MILL CITY GROWS 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 62funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing