California · Nonprofit
Sierra Business Council
Sierra Business Council (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,461,213 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($776,500). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $3.4M
What Sierra Business Council does
Mission
Catalyze and demonstrate innovative approaches and solutions to increase community vitality, economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social fairness in the Sierra Nevada.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Econcomic empowerment: Sierra Business Councils small business development center (sbdc) serves rural northeastern california with business development and improvement services, including improving access to capital, linking to job training services, and counseling businesses on incorporating social and environmental values.sbc continued to manage a revolving loan fund and expanded its first-time homebuyer down payment assistance fund. Sbc hosted the gold country broadband consortium, expanding access to broadband services in rural regions through direct technical assistance and leveraging state and federal funding for regional projects.sbc also managed the california jobs first program serving as the fiscal agent and convenor of the eastern sierra regional california jobs first program in a 7 county sub-region of the sierra.
$3,635,196 spent81% of program spendingClimate and energy: Sierra Business Councils energy services projects work directly with sierra businesses and local governments, linking local economic development activities to thriving communities through energy efficiency retrofits, deployment of renewable greenhouse gas emission inventories, energy action plans, and assisting local governments with state mandated climate action planning.sbc added a new climate program in 2024, the northern rural energy network focusing on energy efficiency and workforce development in a 14 county region.
$616,979 spent14% of program spendingRegional advocacy: Sierra Business Council acts as a regional policy and analysis voice for the sierra nevada, focusing on natural resource management policy, forest management and wildfire mitigation policy, biomass, bioenergy, and value-added wood product development, regional economic development policy, housing policy, climate policy, and broadband deployment. Sbc develops research and materials to help inform public debate and engagement.sbc partnered with numerous entities and coalitions to advance economic development policy, including the california stewardship network, california forward, and partnerships with more than 70 state and regional business organizations.sbc worked with local and regional partners to develop a strategy to expand access to housing for low to medium income sierra residents.
$231,155 spent5% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,483,330.
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 $1.2M to $4.0M (+239%).
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 33% · 2021 49% · 2022 34% · 2023 39% · 2024 59%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of Sierra Business Council’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Allan Pietrasanta
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 8 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $183k → $453k.
9 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 Sierra Business Council’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
Sierra Business Council has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
96% 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 Sierra Business Council.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 38% · 2019 60% · 2020 23% · 2021 37% · 2022 39% · 2023 56% — 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
47% of Sierra Business Council's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
69% of Sierra Business Council's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M 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.
Against its field
Sierra Business Council holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Sierra Business Council receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.3M on record.
- Department of Commerce$1.3M
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 Sierra Business Council
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
91% 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 Sierra Business Council: 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 Sierra Business Council?
- Sierra Business Council (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,461,213 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($776,500). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sierra Business Council have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $3,461,213 in grants to Sierra Business Council, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sierra Business Council?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $776,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sierra Business Council 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 Sierra Business Council →
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 30 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