Iowa · Nonprofit
SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC
SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC (Iowa) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,763,347 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($754,034). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $9.5M
What Seed Savers Exchange Inc does
Mission
Dedicated to saving seeds of endangered garden & food crops, by developing a grassroots network of gardeners & orchardists who work together to collect, maintain, & distribute traditional varieties.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Sales of seeds and plants to the public in order to effect and demonstrate "lost to the ecosystem" non-hybrid seed varieties can be reintroduced through growers' acceptance. Cultivation of such otherwise unavailable seeds have been prepserved in the organization's seedbank, and their ensuing distribution and sale is a "substantially related" demonstration activity.
$3,252,918 spent$2,336,249 earned by the program73% of program spendingPublications of educational materials for the organizations 7,708 members who grow and exchange seed of endangered food crops.
$175,135 spent$291,848 earned by the program4% of program spendingOperate heritage farm as a visitor center and educational center developing a network of isolation gardens to prevent cross-pollination and contaimation for genetically modified crops. Growing gardens and genetic preservation projects necessary for maintaining seed collection of 20,000 rare vegetable and fruit varieties that would otherwise likely become extinct.
$964,070 spent22% of program spendingOther program services include maintaining a breeding herd of threatened white park cattle and hold the annual convention.
$70,341 spent$13,375 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,462,464.
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 2020 to 2021, from $8.3M to $9.8M (+17%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 1% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
40% of SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Neil Hamilton
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 28 funders, grant income fell $274k → $228k.
11 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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
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 SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 31% · 2019 24% · 2020 68% · 2021 21% · 2022 18% · 2023 18% — 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 SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
56% of SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC'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 $1.2M that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from funders outside Iowa, across 24 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 605 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 605 food & nutrition nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $93 on record.
- SUPPLIES - GENERAL $93
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 SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE 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 Iowa
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
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 40 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE 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 SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC?
- SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC (Iowa) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,763,347 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($754,034). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $2,763,347 in grants to SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC, 42 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $754,034 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 Seed Savers Exchange →
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 66 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