2025-09-30T14:15:03-07:00 2024-12-31 371420474 Fontanello Duffield & Otake LLP 111 Pine Street Suite 1750 San Francisco CA 94111 990 2024-01-01 942581329 Wildflowers Institute WILD 4157751151 1144 Pacific Avenue San Francisco CA 94133 Jennifer Mei Vice President 2025-09-30 true true Carol Duffield P01257136 4159830200 2024 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z Hanmin Liu 1144 Pacific Avenue San Francisco CA 941334212 414257 false X www.wildflowers.org X 1979 CA The most significant accomplishment in 2024 was to develop a methodology for donors and philanthropy to advance community sustainability, 6 5 2 13 0 285644 380291 0 11800 33966 0 297444 414257 2075 6734 0 146710 144077 0 614 85283 119368 234068 270179 63376 144078 1290085 1695448 31179 43775 1258906 1651673 Wildflowers Institute is dedicated to advancing the sustainability of populations in the grassroots. false false 269046 6734 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. This ethos, which we refer to as a sacred code, extends far back in ancient Chinese history and guides human behavior across public, private, and nonprofit organizations, families, clans, and individuals. Striving for harmony is expressed in the design of places, in spiritual and cultural rituals, and in daily living, and it informs individuals of all ages in building a sustainable family and community. Inspired by the capability of the sacred code to unify, we are collaborating with eleven monolingual Chinese elders in our philanthropy for all approach in the Tenderloin. They have developed the survey questions to identify the problems in the family and the community. They are conducting the poll to more than a thousand tenants of single-room occupancy hotels in their neighborhood. The goal of the survey is to identify community-driven solutions to their problems. The elders are discovering exemplary approaches that address the problem directly but that also (1) develop personal character, virtues, and relationships within the family; (2) foster harmony in the family and the community; and (3) elevate collective problem-solving and social adaptation in the neighborhood.Building on the concept of discovering unity amid diversity, we partner with the Aspen Institute to host dinner meetings with San Francisco leaders to discuss community-building. We will also jointly organize a three-day seminar in 2026 titled Leadership, Change, and Community: Entrusting the Gift, Extending the Good. 269046 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false false true true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false true 6 0 true 2 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 6 5 true false false false false false false true false false false true true true true true true true false false CA X X X Jennifer Mei 4157751151 1144 Pacific Avenue San Francisco CA 941334212 Hanmin Liu President 40.00 0.00 X X 42300 0 31325 Jennifer Mei Vice President 40.00 0.00 X 34165 0 30914 Bruce E Spivey Treasurer 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Gary Arsham Secretary 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Joy Ou Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Ingrid Mittermaier Chair/Director 2.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Ramon Murguia Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 76465 62239 0 false false false 0 380291 110778 380291 0 33966 33966 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 414257 33966 1734 1734 5000 5000 0 0 138704 138565 139 0 0 0 0 5373 5367 6 0 0 13150 13096 47 7 0 0 0 20101 20017 73 11 0 0 0 0 16103 16064 16 23 9182 9153 18 11 0 31856 31755 62 39 0 0 0 3386 3376 10 Training Program 8279 8279 Supplies 5452 5305 115 32 Internet 3256 3168 69 19 Communication & Technology 3003 3003 5600 5164 109 327 270179 269046 519 614 1496 1469 489928 531844 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 39127 39127 0 798661 1162135 0 0 0 0 1290085 1695448 31179 43775 31179 43775 X 1019949 1226198 238957 425475 1258906 1651673 1290085 1695448 144078 248689 X false true X true false X 249305 527562 166803 285644 269513 1498827 0 0 249305 527562 166803 285644 269513 1498827 1035872 462955 1201 890 3981 11800 29959 47831 0 0 1546658 0.29930 0.36510 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 38872 38872 255 255 X 662946 248689 248689 414257 414257 270179 270179 270179 Part X : FIN48 Footnote The Institute is exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and Section 23701(d) of the California Revenue and Taxation Code and is generally not subject to federal or state income taxes. However, the Institute is subject to income taxes on any net income that is derived from a trade or business, regularly carried on, and not in furtherance of the purposes for which it was granted exemption.No income tax provision has been recorded as the net income, if any, from any unrelated trade or business, in the opinion of management, is not material to the financial statements taken as a whole.The Institute believes that it has appropriate support for the tax position taken and, as such, does not have any uncertain tax positions that result in a material impact on the Institutes statement of position or statement of activities. Hanmin Liu President 6000 Rent of Office Space false Schedule L, Part V Supplemental Information Wildflowers Institute rents office space from the President of the Organization. The total amount paid during the year ended December 31, 2024 was $6,000. At its Auqust 2, 2024 meeting, the Board approved a two year extension of this lease to run from April 2024 to April 2026. The President abstained from voting on the approval. X 1 110778 Avg High-Low Price false true false Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 2 Hanmim Liu and Jennifer Mei - Family relation Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b Both the President and Vice President review and edit the returns. Additionaly, a copy of the Form 990 is presented to the Board of Directors for review during its regularly scheduled meeting. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c Annually, a Board Independence Questionnaire is given out to all Board members who are also employees. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15a The President and Vice President are the only employees of the Organization. Their salaries are determined and approved by the Board. As part of due diligence, the Board looks at comparable wage and salary surveys as a significant part of reasonable compensation for a particular date and time. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available to the public. All documents are filed at the Wildflowers office. Upon request for a document, management will make the document available for review at the Wildflowers office.