California · Nonprofit
SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE
SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE (California) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $779,248 to it, the largest being THE ROSE HILLS FOUNDATION ($250,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.8M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $779k
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Sowing Seeds for Life does
Mission
To provide food for the hungry, respond to emergencies for those in need, eliminate hunger in the inland valley and to servce the community with dignity and respect.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Since our agency's inception in 2007, we have strived to fight hunger. We do this through the operation of food pantry programs that are designed to meet the needs of the communities and populations we serve. Our programs are comprised of general food pantries along with satellite locations in various cities. Additionally, we offer special distributions for veterans, seniors and persons living with mobility difficulties. We operate a mobile food pantry program that serves students of local colleges and low-income senior living facililties. In delivering our services, we annually provide over 1 million pounds of food free of charge. Ssfl is proud to collaborate with partner agencies to provide wrap around not duplicated services.our clients include infants, children, students, veterans, seniors and homeless individuals. All clients are welcome to receive services which often comprise upwards of two weeks supply of food and hygiene products. By offering items in such abundance clients are able to obtain all needed items in one place while saving food budget monies for other necessities such as rent thus helping them to avoid homelessness.ssel is funded through grants, employee…
$5,710,798 spentof which $5,593,582 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,710,798.
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 $366k to $951k (+160%).
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 3% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 0% · 2021 1% · 2022 1% · 2023 1% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Vickie Brown
CEO and founder
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $33k → $220k.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 21 of 23 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
SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% 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
68% 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 SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 97% · 2019 49% · 2020 54% · 2021 35% · 2022 54% · 2023 23% — 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
54% of SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
95% of SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $128k 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
SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE has grown faster than half of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE: 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 SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE?
- SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE (California) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $779,248 to it, the largest being THE ROSE HILLS FOUNDATION ($250,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $779,248 in grants to SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE?
- THE ROSE HILLS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOWING SEEDS FOR LIFE 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 Sowing Seeds for Life →
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 23 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