Michigan · Nonprofit
RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL
RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL (Michigan) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,309,603 to it, the largest being KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,321,530). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $857k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $3.3M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Rural Futures International does
Mission
Rural Futures International (dba tillers international) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving heritage skills and promoting sustainable, resilient agriculture through hands-on education. We empower communities locally and globally by teaching low-capital, animal-powered farming techniques and traditional craftsmanship, bridging historical wisdom with modern innovations to ensure long-term food security and rural self-sufficiency.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The mission of Rural Futures International (dba tillers international) is to preserve, study, and teach heritage skills and sustainable technologies that empower people to achieve greater self-sufficiency and build community resilience. We fulfill this mission by providing hands-on education in traditional agricultural methods, animal traction, and heritage crafts. By connecting the wisdom of the past with modern innovations, we work to ensure long-term food security and the preservation of material culture both locally and in developing nations worldwide.
$440,252 spent$119,285 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $440,252.
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 2021 to 2022, from $2.6M to $2.3M (−13%).
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 20% · 2018 49% · 2019 31% · 2020 35% · 2021 14% · 2022 10% · 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Rob Collins
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 5 funders, grant income fell $1.0M → $241k.
4 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 62% 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 RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL’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
RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
100% 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 RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 60% · 2019 82% · 2020 53% · 2021 63% · 2022 57% · 2023 66% — 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
83% of RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
62% of RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL'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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Michigan, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M 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
RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,468 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,468 international nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL: 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 RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL?
- RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL (Michigan) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,309,603 to it, the largest being KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,321,530). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $3,309,603 in grants to RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL?
- KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,321,530 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RURAL FUTURES INTERNATIONAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Rural Futures International →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 8 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