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Nebraska · Nonprofit

WHISPERING ROOTS INC

WHISPERING ROOTS INC (Nebraska) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,539,589 to it, the largest being THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION ($3,017,436). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.5M
Funders on record
24
Grants received
$5.5M
Net assets
$368k
18/24 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 70%
01What it does

What Whispering Roots Inc does

Mission

The mission of Whispering Roots Inc is to bring healthy fresh food, nutrition education, innovative agriculture techniques and science, technology, engineering and math (stem) education to students and residents living in urban and rural socially and economically under-served communities.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Whispering Roots Inc uses aquaculture, hydroponics, aquaponics and urban agriculture to grow healthy food and expose children and families to great tasting nutritious food options through "hands on" experiential learning and growing activities.

    $231,162 spent$233 earned by the program
    12% of program spending
  2. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $1,547,030 spent$357,899 earned by the program
    78% of program spending
  3. Whispering Roots Inc provides culinary engagement through various methods.

    $211,144 spent$11,260 earned by the program
    11% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,989,336.

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 ($364k) Expenses 100 ($137k) Net assets 100 ($387k)2018 Revenue 99 ($358k) Expenses 155 ($212k) Net assets 138 ($533k)2019 Revenue 152 ($551k) Expenses 401 ($551k) Net assets 138 ($533k)2020 Revenue 194 ($705k) Expenses 420 ($576k) Net assets 171 ($662k)2021 Revenue 374 ($1.4M) Expenses 794 ($1.1M) Net assets 242 ($934k)2022 Revenue 526 ($1.9M) Expenses 1155 ($1.6M) Net assets 326 ($1.3M)2023 Revenue 697 ($2.5M) Expenses 2001 ($2.7M) Net assets 271 ($1.0M)2024 Revenue 411 ($1.5M) Expenses 1585 ($2.2M) Net assets 95 ($368k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (411)Expenses (1585)Net assets (95)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 2021 to 2022, from $1.0M to $2.1M (+104%).

$387k
$548k
$599k
$719k
$1.0M
$2.1M
$1.9M
$1.2M
'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: 2018 17% · 2019 53% · 2020 23% · 2021 4% · 2023 7% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

76% of WHISPERING ROOTS INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,680 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$226k
’17
$146k
’18
$396
’19
$129k
’20
$272k
’21
$326k
’22
−$213k
’23
−$679k
’24
0.4
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.

Chief executive

Gregory Fripp

Director/CEO

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed38666665
Joined·+6+0+0+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·1200001
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $254k → $1.0M.

4 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 WHISPERING ROOTS 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

WHISPERING ROOTS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

54%
largest funder
74%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2019 67% · 2020 48% · 2021 60% · 2022 60% · 2023 37% — 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

60% of WHISPERING ROOTS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

97% of WHISPERING ROOTS INC's grant income comes from Nebraska funders.

IL
MI
IA
NE
MO
DE
AZ
NC

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

’17
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Nebraska out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $197k 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

WHISPERING ROOTS INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,608 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−45% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.4mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)22% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,608 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding WHISPERING ROOTS INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $258k on record.

Federal$258k
grants $258kcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of Agriculture$258k

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 WHISPERING ROOTS 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 Nebraska

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

91% of spending goes to programs.

Program 91%Management 6%Fundraising 2%

Governance

5
board members
80%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

44%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WHISPERING ROOTS 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.

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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 WHISPERING ROOTS INC?
WHISPERING ROOTS INC (Nebraska) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,539,589 to it, the largest being THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION ($3,017,436). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does WHISPERING ROOTS INC have?
IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $5,539,589 in grants to WHISPERING ROOTS INC, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of WHISPERING ROOTS INC?
THE SHERWOOD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,017,436 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like WHISPERING ROOTS INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nebraska. 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 Whispering Roots →

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 24 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing