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Indiana · Nonprofit

Unity Gardens

Unity Gardens (Indiana) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $854,186 to it, the largest being ASANTE FOUNDATION INC ($255,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$879k
Funders on record
27
Grants received
$854k
Net assets
$1.5M
13/27 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 27%
01What it does

What Unity Gardens does

Mission

To connect our community to healthy food,nature and each other We do this through supporting open gardens, free classes and programs

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. 2024 Free-Pick Orchards & Gardens: Unity Gardens connect our community to Fresh Food, Nature and one another through 40 free pick gardens and orchard sites. The 7 acre main site is the hub of operations. Through this site we support over 40 satellite gardens where our community can pick fresh fruits and vegetables without any barriers to access. The main site has garden guides who will help harvesters navigate the garden and discover the fruits and vegetables, sharing recipes, information on our programs, classes and More. Through our satellite gardens and community partners we also add to the available produce with a sharing shelf for 8637 garden visitors to enjoy. An estimated 200,000 pounds of fresh produce distributed to neighbors.

    $168,596 spent
    32% of program spending
  2. 2024 Educational Programming: Unity Gardens hosts free gardening and orchard care classes both on-site in our education center and on-line. In addition we offer classes at our community partner sites. A 4-season off-the-grid Geodome to host field trips and connect youth to the joy of gardening and principles of renewable energy all year long. An Edgy Veggie bus takes our programs and classes on the road, reaching more deeply into our community to parks and community events. We have engaged over 1484 children with Edgy Veggie in 2024 at 19 events. 1211 Adults attended free gardening as well 870 kids at 147 classes.

    $256,536 spent
    49% of program spending
  3. 2024 Farm to Market: Unity Gardens has a dedicated, separated area at the main garden to grow food for sale, creating revenue for organizational sustainability and mission support. In addition to fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables, Unity Gardens creates value added products such as soap, bees wax candles and balms, veggie pun cards honey based food with honey and dried herbs and pepper We have 2 market areas; One at the South Bend Farmers Market and another at our main garden Welcome Center.

    $94,858 spent
    18% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $519,990.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($291k) Expenses 100 ($225k) Net assets 100 ($122k)2018 Revenue 80 ($231k) Expenses 101 ($226k) Net assets 158 ($192k)2019 Revenue 176 ($510k) Expenses 110 ($247k) Net assets 498 ($606k)2020 Revenue 141 ($410k) Expenses 111 ($248k) Net assets 621 ($754k)2021 Revenue 135 ($391k) Expenses 147 ($331k) Net assets 670 ($814k)2022 Revenue 190 ($552k) Expenses 193 ($435k) Net assets 767 ($932k)2023 Revenue 259 ($752k) Expenses 223 ($501k) Net assets 974 ($1.2M)2024 Revenue 303 ($879k) Expenses 294 ($660k) Net assets 1197 ($1.5M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (303)Expenses (294)Net assets (1197)Peer revenue range

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 $526k to $846k (+61%).

$318k
$526k
$846k
$954k
$1.0M
$1.2M
$1.4M
$1.5M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 5% · 2020 7% · 2021 12% · 2022 4% · 2023 32% · 2024 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

83% of Unity Gardens’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 3,373 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$66k
’17
$5k
’18
$264k
’19
$161k
’20
$60k
’21
$118k
’22
$251k
’23
$220k
’24
6.7
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed78888998
Joined·+1+1+0+0+1+0+1
No longer listed·0100002
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 9 funders, grant income rose $40k → $206k.

4 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 Unity Gardens’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

Unity Gardens has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

46% 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 Unity Gardens.

30%
largest funder
47%
top three
~8
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 55% · 2019 54% · 2020 22% · 2021 48% · 2022 69% · 2023 61% — 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

29% of Unity Gardens's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

67% of Unity Gardens's grant income comes from Indiana funders.

IL
MI
NY
IN
PA
CA
NE
MO
DE
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Indiana out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $127k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Unity Gardens runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,974 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.

Operating margin25% · top quartile
Months of reserve6.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,974 food & nutrition nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Unity Gardens

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 Indiana

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

79% of spending goes to programs.

Program 79%Management 10%Fundraising 11%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

85%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Unity Gardens: 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.

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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 Unity Gardens?
Unity Gardens (Indiana) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $854,186 to it, the largest being ASANTE FOUNDATION INC ($255,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Unity Gardens have?
IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $854,186 in grants to Unity Gardens, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Unity Gardens?
ASANTE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $255,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Unity Gardens find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Indiana. 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 Unity Gardens →

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 27 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