California · Nonprofit
SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC
SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $715,645 to it, the largest being KEN BIRDWELL FOUNDATION (DBA MAGIC CABINET) C/O CLARK NUBER PS ($332,006). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $716k
- Net assets
- $617k
What Sustainable Solano Inc does
Mission
To inspire and nurture grassroots initiatives for the good of the whole and to promote ecologically sustainable, economically and socially just future of solano county
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Sustainable green infrastructurecreating demonstration food forests and community gardens based on permaculture and secondary water; - gardens installed in 2024: 9 - total number of gardens installed: 77 - total water impact: 4.48 million gallons saved or diverted annually - annual food yield: over 2,650 pounds - total number of educational events: 58 - number of attendees: 862 - 4 combined youth wellness sustainable landscaping/cooking internships with 65 teens - working with homeowners association and farms on larger projects
$235,620 spent24% of program spendingLocal food systemspublic education on local food, cooking, farming, and local food systems, with a special youth-focused track that includes cooking classes series and field trips to the farms. 36 in-person and virtual classes or demonstrations for adults and youth with 1,404 attendees. Upholding solano local food system alliance.
$349,493 spent35% of program spendingCommunity resiliencyleading youth air quality programs with youth and community in fairfield and rio vista and expanding those efforts to other parts of the county. Flood resiliency work in suisun city, and climate action program for fairfield and suisun city residents. 31 public events with 571 attendees. 4 resiliency-based high school internships; 36 participants.
$256,796 spent26% of program spendingCapacity buildingusing nature-inspired non-hierarchical approaches to shaping a self-managing organization. Developing organizational approaches to leadership-building and democratic management.
$160,152 spent16% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,002,061.
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 $143k to $536k (+275%).
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: 2018 49% · 2019 5% · 2020 33% · 2022 34% · 2023 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
31% of SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Elena Karoulina
Co-executive director and dir
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $193k.
2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 SOLANO INC’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 SOLANO INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
49% 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 SOLANO INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 42% · 2020 88% · 2021 99% · 2022 83% · 2023 78% — 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
33% of SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $235k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 SOLANO INC has grown faster than three-quarters 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 SOLANO INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $878k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$649k
- Environmental Protection Agency$229k
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 SOLANO INC
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 SOLANO INC: 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 SOLANO INC?
- SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $715,645 to it, the largest being KEN BIRDWELL FOUNDATION (DBA MAGIC CABINET) C/O CLARK NUBER PS ($332,006). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $715,645 in grants to SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC?
- KEN BIRDWELL FOUNDATION (DBA MAGIC CABINET) C/O CLARK NUBER PS is the largest funder on record, with $332,006 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SUSTAINABLE SOLANO INC 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.
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 11 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