California · Nonprofit
Planting Justice
Planting Justice (California) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,086,554 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($5,906,735). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 118
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $4.9M
What Planting Justice does
Mission
Planting Justice is democratizing access to affordable, nutritious food by empowering disenfranchised urban residents with the skills, resources, and inspiration to maximize food production, economic opportunities, and environmental sustainability in our neighborhoods.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Commercial Organic Nursery: In fall of 2015, Planting Justice purchased Rolling River Commercial Organic Nursery, in order to create more jobs and demonstrate the organizations ability to promote and manage social benefit enterprises that can accomplish the mission without necessarily requiring charitable support or public funding. In addition to the commercial nursery, Planting Justice will construct and operate aquaponics greenhouses, which can be replicated on urban lots, paved areas, or toxic soils, using an innovative technique to grow vegetables above self-contained fish tanks.
$1,992,649 spentof which $4,000 as grants$209,829 earned by the program60% of program spendingFood Justice Education: The Planting Justice Education Team leads workshops using its self-designed curriculum in food justice, culinary arts, and permaculture design that empowers participants with the skills and knowledge they need to transform their common spaces into productive and educational organic gardens.
$495,713 spentof which $109,809 as grants$84,837 earned by the program15% of program spending5 Acre Farm: With more than 400 trees now planted on contour in earthscape features called swales Planting Justice is now focused on supporting those trees and planting fruiting shrubs in between rows. Planting Justice is approaching the incredible milestone of having 1,000 varieties of edible plants in the soil in El Sobrante.
$347,985 spent$7,608 earned by the program10% of program spendingOTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Food Justice Education: The Planting Justice Education Team leads workshops using its self-designed curriculum in food justice, culinary arts, and permaculture design that empowers participants with the skills and knowledge they need to transform their common spaces into productive and educational organic gardens. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: 5 Acre Farm: With more than 400 trees now planted on contour in earthscape features called swales Planting Justice is now focused on supporting those trees and planting fruiting shrubs in between rows. Planting Justice is approaching the incredible milestone of having 1,000 varieties of edible plants in the soil in El Sobrante. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: Fiscal Sponsorship: Lead to Life is transforming weapons into shovels for tree planting ceremonies at sites that have been impacted by violence or carry spiritual significance across Atlanta occupied lands of the Cherokee and Creek people and Oakland occupied lands of the Ohlone people. Mycelium Youth Network is dedicated to bridging the gap between increasing climate-related disasters and the abilities of young people to proactively respond. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 7:…
$484,705 spent15% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,321,052.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.9M to $3.5M (+84%).
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 7% · 2018 10% · 2019 0% · 2020 15% · 2021 50% · 2022 11% · 2023 14% · 2024 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of Planting Justice’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% 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
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
Salvador Mateo
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $414k → $6.7M.
30 of 118 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 Planting Justice’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 118 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
Planting Justice has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% 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
75% 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 Planting Justice.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 18% · 2019 37% · 2020 20% · 2021 33% · 2022 15% · 2023 75% — 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
26% of Planting Justice's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
64% of Planting Justice'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 $6.5M that is directly attributable, 54% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
Planting Justice runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Planting Justice receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.0M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$2.2M
- Department of Health and Human Services$800k
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 Planting Justice
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- The Good Table LLC · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Planting Justice: 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 Planting Justice?
- Planting Justice (California) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,086,554 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($5,906,735). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Planting Justice have?
- IRS filings report 118 organizations giving $18,086,554 in grants to Planting Justice, 48 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Planting Justice?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $5,906,735 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Planting Justice 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 Planting Justice →
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 118 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