Washington · Nonprofit
SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS
SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS (Washington) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,193,386 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($5,991,383). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.1M
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $8.2M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Sustainable Connections does
Mission
We create thriving communities through innovative ideas, collaboration and action.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The cloud mountain farm center works to provide educational opportunities for new and existing farmers and community members trough workshops, internships, and educational materials. Cloud mountain serves as a food hub by bringing together farmers to build production and marketing opportunities, conducts reaches focusing on plants best adapted to the pnw, and disseminates the information to regional farmers.
$1,114,428 spent$23,693 earned by the program38% of program spendingThe food & farming program is creating a vibrant local food economy by supporting local farmers, connecting food buyers to local farms and artisans, and encouraging our community to always eat local first. By marketing local food-producing businesses to the public, we are strengthening our local economy, helping lower our environmental impact (climate footprint of non-locally produced food), and encouraging healthy nutrition for our community.
$630,978 spent$112,327 earned by the program21% of program spendingThe energy efficiency & green building program strengthens the local economy through the efficient use of clean, renewable, and secure energy. We provide each participating business with vetted information, a full energy assessment, a customized energy action plan detailing cost-effective measures, assistance with utility and tax rebates, reliable contractors, and quality assurance to help them save energy and cut costs with cutting-edge upgrades and the latest incentives.
$395,169 spent$102,404 earned by the program13% of program spendingToward zero waste (including the food recovery program) program helps businesses reduce the amount of waste they produce and the amount of waste they divert from landfill by providing technical assistance and education to businesses, creating impactful public information campaigns, and working with key collaborative community partners. Our food recovery program integrates an innovative food aid model into our long-standing toward zero waste program to help feed community members experiencing hunger.
$367,494 spent$275,215 earned by the program12% of program spendingThe housing & smart growth program is the backbone agency for the whatcom housing alliance. This program encompasses several efforts toward affordable and smart-growth housing, including member collaboration to build an affordable, healthy, equitable, thriving, and inclusive community.
$289,342 spent$324,931 earned by the program10% of program spendingThe think local first program supports local businesses by promoting them to the public through collective marketing and special community events throughout the year. The program educates the community in the role of local businesses in community development, environmental stewardship, and strengthening our local economy.
$143,086 spent$36,520 earned by the program5% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,940,497.
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 2018 to 2019, from $386k to $2.0M (+407%).
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: 2019 14% · 2020 20% · 2021 26% · 2022 25% · 2023 38% · 2024 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Derek Long
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $746k → $1.1M.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 79% 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 SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS’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
SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 45% · 2019 68% · 2020 77% · 2021 78% · 2022 77% · 2023 75% — 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
38% of SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
79% of SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS'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 $1.7M that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.5M 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
SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS has grown faster than half of the 2,186 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.8M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$1.8M
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 SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS: 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 SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS?
- SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS (Washington) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,193,386 to it, the largest being WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($5,991,383). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 79% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $8,193,386 in grants to SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS?
- WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,991,383 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Sustainable Connections →
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