Wildflowers Institute

What it reported doing in 2024

Wildflowers Institute (the institute), a California nonprofit organization, is dedicated to advancing the sustainability of populations in the grassroots.The institute recognizes the contemporary challenges of community building in the United States and beyond. Our work guides and supports both donors and communities toward maintaining time-honored practicesstrong relationships and social formationsto foster stability and to propel transformation. Wildflowers Institute embraces the history, culture, and spiritual practices of others and their diversity of thoughts.The year 2024 was a watershed for the institute. We deconstructed our program services that enable community members to build their own narrative of who they are and how they transform themselves. We refined our processes and tools for making visible local resources and assets. We built from the ground up a way of advancing community sustainability for donors and philanthropists. This donor approach to local philanthropy is rooted in discovering the unseen treasures within the community. DISCOVERINGAt the heart of our approach to discovering a communitys unseen treasures is identifying what the community-at-large sees as its challenges and how individuals, self-organized groups, and organizations are responding to these challenges.Wildflowers Institutes process of discovering empowers communities by enabling them to define their own narrative and find common direction and purpose. This approach fosters alignment and collaboration among residents and local artists as well as among diverse cultural groups and organizations. It encourages community members to take an active role in philanthropy and engage in ongoing discussions about social outcomes, ensuring that lessons are learned and applied for continual improvement. Our five-step discovery process to strengthen individuals, self-organized groups, and organizations coming together has been part of Wildflowers Institutes toolkit for the past twenty years. In each step below, we assess, improve, and refine as a means to discovery.1.Community-driven surveys and focus group sessions to identify salient problems and solutions to them;2.Panels of respected experts to assess projects;3.Community assemblies to explore, discuss, and support new projects;4.Workshops to build 3-D models of community formations and project plans; and5.Gatherings to dialogue, reflect, and evaluate.UNSEEN Our discovery process highlights unseen community assets by looking beyond the surface and identifying key individuals who cultivate inclusive and collaborative relationships and sustainable community dynamics. These previously unseen individuals typically fall into five or six different archetypes for sustainability: guardians, keepers of the culture, spiritual guides, healers, artists, and social and business entrepreneurs. They are deeply motivated by a sense of purpose, a desire to improve their community, and a love for others. By recognizing these individuals and the social outcomes of their endeavors, Our discovery process motivates and influences others more effectively. TREASURESThe unseen treasures we discover are community members who have a deep emotion for and a knowledge of their community that foster a desire for sustainability of their ecosystem as a whole.The treasures are the outcomes of activities generated by the archetypes as noted above. These outcomes are realized by tapping into their inherent strengths, while also drawing upon the communitys rich history and cultural capital. By doing so, the community not only stabilizes and adapts but also propels itself forward, continuing to grow and evolve. Strengthening the collective will in this way cultivates a dynamic, enduring communityone that builds on its past while embracing the possibilities of its future. Democratizing Philanthropy ProjectThe institutes arts and culture project in Chinatown (20212023) uncovered a community-wide treasure centered on unity amid diversity.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 67.8%; rating input score 68
• Program expense ratio: 99.6%; rating input score 100
• Fundraising efficiency: $619.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 34.8%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.28; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 51.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings