Kentucky · Nonprofit
THE BERRY CENTER INC
THE BERRY CENTER INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,585,461 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOUISVILLE INC ($3,554,293). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $7.6M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What The Berry Center Inc does
Mission
The berry center was launched to preserve the legacy of wendell berry's work and writings and the exceptional agricultural contributions of his father john berry, sr., and his brother john berry, jr. The core of our work is to advocate for (see schedule o) farmers, land conserving communities, and healthy regional economies.our work seeks to provide solutions to essential issues that are rarely in public disclosure and certainly not reflected in agricultural policies. "what will it take for farmers to be able to afford to farm well? And "how do we become a culture that supports good farming and land use?" we believe that the answers - while firmly rooted in local work - are central to solving some of the world's most pressing problems including the devastation of natural resources and biodiversity; rapid onset of climate change; economic and social inequities; and the collapse of healthy farming and rural communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
To advocate for farmers, land conserving communities, and healthy regional economies through our archive at the berry center, agrarian culture center and bookstore, home place meats - a local beef initiative, and the berry farming program. The archive of the berry center collects and preserves distinct books, articles, and works of art, photographs, oral histories and manuscripts that offer completing insights into good farming and land use and the rich culture of rural communities over the last century. The agrarian culture center and bookstore carries all of wendell berry's publications, and inspirations from his home library and other works that have influenced his life. The home place meats - a local beef initiative establishes a cooperative for local livestock farmers to sell to (see schedule o) local markets. The berry farming program provides future farmers with an education in agrarian thought and practice that is holistic and place-based.
$732,080 spent$-92,414 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $732,080.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $1.2M to $2.4M (+93%).
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 7% · 2019 7% · 2020 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
102% of THE BERRY CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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.
Board chair
Maggie Keith
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 26 funders, grant income rose $314k → $1.3M.
14 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 56% 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 THE BERRY CENTER INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
THE BERRY CENTER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
59% 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 THE BERRY CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 33% · 2019 70% · 2020 85% · 2021 53% · 2022 58% · 2023 47% — 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
46% of THE BERRY CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
56% of THE BERRY CENTER INC'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 $3.3M that is directly attributable, 62% of it comes from Kentucky funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
THE BERRY CENTER INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding THE BERRY CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $317k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$317k
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 THE BERRY CENTER 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 Kentucky
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
55% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
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 THE BERRY CENTER 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 THE BERRY CENTER INC?
- THE BERRY CENTER INC (Kentucky) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,585,461 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOUISVILLE INC ($3,554,293). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 56% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE BERRY CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $7,585,461 in grants to THE BERRY CENTER INC, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BERRY CENTER INC?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOUISVILLE INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,554,293 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BERRY CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Kentucky. 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 Berry Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 55 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