Minnesota · Nonprofit
SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA
SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA (Minnesota) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,047,873 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($525,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $826k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $397k
What Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota does
Mission
Support the development and enhancement of sustainable farming systems through farmer-to-farmer networking, innovation, demonstration, and education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Farmer-to-farmer networking, education, demonstration and research to advance and support improved soil health, environmental stewardship, economic resilience and strong and diverse rural communities in minnesota.advancing soil health is foundational for sfa. We believe healthy soil is key to addressing current economic, social, and environmental challenges on the agricultural landscape. That belief is grounded in the fact that soil biology is largely influenced by agricultural production practices such as tillage, use of fertilizers, chemicals and herbicides and tilling. Productive, regenerative agriculture is based on a healthy soil biology. Soil microbial populations mediate 85-90% of soil function. Sfa's soil health education programs are founded on 6 key soil health principles, 4 of which are adopted by the natural resource conservation service 1) minimize soil disturbance; 2) keep healthy roots in the soil; 3) increase cropland and pastureland plant diversity; 4) keep soil covered; 5) integrate livestock; 6) consider each grower's operational context.sfa's educational and mentoring programs are a mix of field days, educational workshops, on-site field demonstrations, on-farm…
$381,292 spent60% of program spendingFarmer and rancher outreach/chapter and network development. These programs are core to sfa's farmer-to-farmer network, serving as the umbrella for sfa chapter activities including its annual conference, midwest soil health summit and chapter festivals that connect growers with eaters. Sfa partners with misa, the regional sustainable development partnership, the minnesota department of agriculture, and several other groups working to make farming and ranching more accessible to immigrant and traditionally underserved people in minnesota who are interested in making a living on the land. Activities at sfa's 10 chapers include a variety of workshops, field days, demonstration and gatherings of farmers, educators, food advocates and community leaders to advance sustainable farming and regenerative agrictultural practices and advancethe economic health of our rural communities. Sfa's four networking groups, organized around issues of common concern, include the midwest garlic growers; environmental services livestock, crow wing river basin forage council, and the twin cities growers network. Each group gathers throughout the year, hosting educational field days and networking events.…
$199,023 spent31% of program spendingTo support minnesota's dairy farmers, sfa works with mdi, the minnesota dairy initiative, providing on-farm technical assistance to a number of dairy farmers around minnesota on a range of milk production, grazing and livestock management issues. Sfa also continued in 2022 as the minnesota administrative partner of the national dairy grazing apprenticeship (dga) program, recruiting new apprentices and matching them with "master graziers", with whom they work during a 2 year intensive educational and hands-on work program. Their apprentiecship results in a certificate and advancement as a journeyperson, recognized as such by the u.s. Department of labor.
$53,148 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $633,463.
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 $129k to $318k (+147%).
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 33% · 2018 35% · 2019 31% · 2020 21% · 2021 61% · 2022 32% · 2023 23% · 2024 11% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
71% of SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Lucinda Winter
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $40k → $159k.
8 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA’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 FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
32% 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 FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 62% · 2019 50% · 2020 90% · 2021 57% · 2022 90% · 2023 63% — 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.
How long its funders stay
29% of SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA'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
88% of SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $184k 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
SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA has grown faster than half of the 1,936 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,936 food & nutrition nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA
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 Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% 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
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Lake Superior Chapter Sfa · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA: 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 FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA?
- SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA (Minnesota) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,047,873 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($525,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,047,873 in grants to SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $525,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SUSTAINABLE FARMING ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 18 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