Illinois · Nonprofit
THE GROWING SEASON INC
THE GROWING SEASON INC (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,966,527 to it, the largest being Endeavor Health Clinical Operations ($650,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $-4709142
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $3.0M
- Net assets
- $-1996871
What The Growing Season Inc does
Mission
To promote individual and community wellness by developing spaces and projects in underserved communities where levels of unemployment and poverty limit opportunities, and by providing training, mentoring, holistic-health programs, and commercial opportunities through these spaces and projects to individuals who are from, and representative of, these communities and, consequently, are often unable to obtain such services and opportunities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The initiative focuses on the development of properties in communities where high unemployment and poverty limit opportunity, with the goal of revitalizing these areas through inclusive economic growth. It provides targeted assistance to racial-minority and low-income individuals by enabling them to own or operate commercial enterprises within the newly developed properties. In december 2024, the organization sold the aux, as initially planned to auxiliary cord llc, a community-owned entity that will carry the organization's mission and serve the community. The initiative promotes the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of community members through accessible, community-based training programs designed to build skills, resilience, and long-term success.
$234,095 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $234,095.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2021 to 2022, from $942k to $2.3M (+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: 2022 14% · 2023 43%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
-67% of THE GROWING SEASON INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $19k → $408k.
4 of 17 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 THE GROWING SEASON 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
THE GROWING SEASON INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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
72% 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 GROWING SEASON INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 54% · 2022 29% · 2023 49% — 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.
Where its funders are
86% of THE GROWING SEASON INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $985k 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
THE GROWING SEASON INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 14,851 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,851 human services nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like THE GROWING SEASON 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE GROWING SEASON 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 GROWING SEASON INC?
- THE GROWING SEASON INC (Illinois) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,966,527 to it, the largest being Endeavor Health Clinical Operations ($650,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE GROWING SEASON INC have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $2,966,527 in grants to THE GROWING SEASON INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GROWING SEASON INC?
- Endeavor Health Clinical Operations is the largest funder on record, with $650,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GROWING SEASON INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Growing Season →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 17 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