California · Nonprofit
SIERRA COMMONS
SIERRA COMMONS (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $67,851 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($60,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $248k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $68k
- Net assets
- $43k
What Sierra Commons does
Mission
To educate and support underserved and economically distressed entrepreneurs through new entrepreneur training, incubation, and technical assistance, with a sector focus on food and forest enterprises.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The food entrepreneurship program strengthens the local food economy by providing targeted education and advising to food business owners at various stages of development. In 2025, the program served 19 food entrepreneurs across 2 food accelerator tracks, with support from california jobs first enabling differentiated instruction for participants at different stages of readiness. Four new food businesses were launched as a direct result of program participation, and 8 scholarships were awarded to expand access. Participants represented packaged goods, restaurants, prepared foods, catering, and early-stage retail. The program also offered virtual food foundry sessions connecting entrepreneurs with industry expertise and peer learning beyond in-person events. These activities further the organizations exempt purpose by building the capacity of local food entrepreneurs, strengthening the regional food ecosystem and creating pathways to sustainable rural livelihoods.
$9,391 spent$108,968 earned by the program32% of program spendingThe forest entrepreneurship program provided education and training to businesses operating at the intersection of forest health, wildfire resilience, and rural economic development. In 2025, the program trained 95 forest entrepreneurs across 7 bootcamps in nevada city, auburn, south lake tahoe, arcata, sonora, and santa cruz, extending the organizations reach across 6 northern california counties. Both introductory and advanced curriculum tracks were offered, adapted to local conditions while maintaining consistent instructional quality. Participants gained practical skills in business planning, regulatory and land-management contexts, financial and operational readiness, and government contracting. The program served 13 total cohorts across all Sierra Commons programs in 2025. These activities support rural businesses that contribute to environmental stewardship, wildfire risk reduction, and regioal economic vitality.
$9,254 spent$73,550 earned by the program31% of program spendingSierra Commons launched a learning management system, the Sierra Commons learning hub, to expand access to educational content and reduce geographic barriers for rural entrepreneurs. The learning hub enabled students and program participants to access course materials, resources, and community supports across programs and regions outside of in-person instruction. The platform supported community management activities including participant interaction, resource organization, and consistent engagement across Sierra Commons digital learning environment. This supported 137 total students served across all programs in 2025 and contributed to the organizations ability to deliver 180 advising hours and 193 instructional hours during the year. These activities further our exempt educational purpose by increasing equitable access to entrepreneurship education for rural residents who face geographic, logistical, or financial barriers to in-person participation.
$8,383 spent$34,000 earned by the program28% of program spendingThe business ignitor course is our foundational entrepreneurship education program, serving as the primary entry point for early-stage entrepreneurs across sectors. In 2025, the organization delivered 2 cohorts serving 23 participants from the greater nevada county region. The program provided structured instruction in business planning, financial readiness, and operational decision-making, with 193 total instructional hours delivered across all programs. Of the 23 participants, 18 launched or stabilized businesses, and 14 received scholarships to reduce financial barriers to access. Participants represented professional services, creative businesses, food, health, and early-stage product and technology ventures. These activities further the organizations exempt educational purpose by equipping individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to start and sustain viable businesses, contributing to rural economic resilience.
$2,652 spent$21,013 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,680.
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 2024 to 2025, from $19k to $67k (+245%).
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: 2025 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of SIERRA COMMONS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Chief executive
Robert Trent
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $18 → $25k.
3 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 COMMONS’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 COMMONS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 88% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 SIERRA COMMONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of SIERRA COMMONS'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $68k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 COMMONS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 7,175 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,175 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding SIERRA COMMONS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $92k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$92k
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 COMMONS
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
15% 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 COMMONS: 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 COMMONS?
- SIERRA COMMONS (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $67,851 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($60,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SIERRA COMMONS have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $67,851 in grants to SIERRA COMMONS, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SIERRA COMMONS?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $60,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SIERRA COMMONS 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 Commons →
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 3 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