Massachusetts · Nonprofit
ROOTS RISING INC
ROOTS RISING INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,959,575 to it, the largest being ROARING BROOK FAMILY FOUNDATION ($510,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Roots Rising Inc does
Mission
Roots rising is an award-winning nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower youth and build community through food and farming. The vision is to lift up teens as community changemakers and to strengthen the local food system through the transformational power of meaningful work.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Youth crews hire pittsfield teens to work on farms and in food pantries throughout the region, as well as at our own farmers market. It's not just a job. It's an opportunity for teens to engage in meaningful work-work that needs to be done and that contributes to a larger social good. Roots rising believes that meaningful work is transformational. It leaves youth feeling purposeful, capable, and connected. We run three seasonal farm crews a year: summer, fall, and spring, as well as market crew, which is a graduate level crew. These crews are both employment and youth development programs. In addition to their hours working in the farm fields or in the farmers market, youth also participate in educational workshops, culinary and financial literacy lessons, and feedback circles.
$250,407 spent64% of program spendingThe pittsfield farmers market, founded in 2013, operates with the belief that everyone in our community should have access to fresh, healthy food. We are a year-round and producer-only market, with all of our vendors selling products that they grow, raise, or produce themselves. Live music, chef demos and workshops have helped make the market a true community hub. Roots rising runs several food justice initiatives in order to make our market more affordable to all- including market match, which doubles the purchasing power of low income residents using snap, wic, and senior benefits. The pittsfield farmers market is the first teen-run market in the region. Our teen market crew is involved with every aspect of running the market, from vendor support to customer service to children's activities.
$107,330 spent$13,110 earned by the program28% of program spendingGeneral operating income and expenses for roots rising.
$30,839 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $388,576.
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 2023 to 2024, from $933k to $1.8M (+88%).
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: 2020 9% · 2021 6% · 2022 15% · 2023 49% · 2024 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of ROOTS RISING INC’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 6 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
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $8k → $150k.
5 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 ROOTS RISING INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
ROOTS RISING INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
34% 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 ROOTS RISING INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 65% · 2019 73% · 2020 28% · 2021 41% · 2022 38% · 2023 20% — 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
46% of ROOTS RISING 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
92% of ROOTS RISING 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. $456k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
ROOTS RISING INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,131 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,131 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding ROOTS RISING INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$982k
- (JJ) OPERATIONAL SERVICES$39k
- (HH) CONSULTANT SVCS (TO DEPTS)$20k
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 ROOTS RISING INC
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
59% 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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ROOTS RISING 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. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ROOTS RISING INC?
- ROOTS RISING INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,959,575 to it, the largest being ROARING BROOK FAMILY FOUNDATION ($510,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ROOTS RISING INC have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $1,959,575 in grants to ROOTS RISING INC, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ROOTS RISING INC?
- ROARING BROOK FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $510,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ROOTS RISING 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.
Play a game about who funds Roots Rising →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 37 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