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California Forward at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing.

$13k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$12k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Public Benefit$726kEnvironment$234kEducation$20kEmployment$18kCommunity Improvement$11kHousing & Shelter$9k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $12,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $13,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$12,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$922k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND$12,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 97% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE WATER CONSERVATION GARDEN: $9k → 11%CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $230k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $20k → 14%CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER: $50k → 14%SAN DIEGO REGIONAL ECON DEVELOPMENT FDN: $9k → 11%CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $213k → 12%HELENA GROUP FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%COMMON CAUSE: $10k → 14%SAN DIEGO WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP: $9k → 11%CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $172k → 12%HELENA GROUP FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $39k → 12%CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $12k → 12%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$886k · 3 repeat orgs$112k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
6

Total granted

$886k
$112k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-18%
+99%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
Community ImprovementCivil RightsEducationCrime & LegalHuman ServicesPublic BenefitOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CF
    CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND
    5× · 2020–2024 · $666k · revenue -93% · 100% of their budget
  • HG
    HELENA GROUP FOUNDATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $200k · revenue -18%
  • ME
    MISSION EDGE SAN DIEGO
    2× · 2017–2018 · $20k · revenue +195%

Funded once

  • THE CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +144%
  • SB
    Sierra Business Councilgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +99%
  • CC
    COMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +187%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
2
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
3
Silicon Valley Defense Working Group Co

Silicon Valley Defense Group convenes experts in technology, investment, and government for discussions on how to better collaborate between the various groups. The comments and topics are then published on our website to help educate and…

Education
4
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
5
The California Business Roundtable

The california business roundtable is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization composed of chief executive officers of leading california businesses. since 1976, the roundtable has provided essential leadership on high-priority public policy…

—
6
Economic Development Coalition

To actively promote economic development in southwest riverside county while working with various cities, the county of riverside and the local chambers of commerce.

—
7
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
8
Chile-California Council

The Chile-California Council is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to developing and promoting joint endeavors and cooperative relations between Chile and California, as well as individuals, legal entities and other institutions in…

International
9
California Budget & Policy Center

The budget center provides dependable, timely, policy guidance and public education through our independent research and analysis, public education, strategic collaborations, and communications to expand economic opportunities and promote…

Education
10
Sf Partnership

SF Partnership is an organization comprised of SF's leading employers dedicated to supporting an equitable, resilient, and vibrant economy shared by all people working and living in San Francisco. Through education, advocacy, and research,…

—
11
California Donor Table

California Donor Table anchors a hub of donors, foundations, and community leaders. We pool together our resources to shape California into a truly democratic state that works for the people, not the powerful. Rooted in our commitment to…

Civil Rights
12
San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council Afl-Cio

The Labor Council offers an avenue for local unions to come together as one group.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Diego Workforce Partnership Inc; the most unlike its peers is University of Southern California. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $666,100 · Civil RightsCALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUNDHELENA GROUP FOUNDATION: $200,000 · Community ImprovementHELENA GROUP FOUNDATIONSAN DIEGO REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $9,000 · Community ImprovementTHE CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER INC: $50,000 · Crime & LegalSierra Business Council: $25,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $9,250 · EducationMISSION EDGE SAN DIEGO: $19,750 · Human ServicesCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $10,000 · Public BenefitSAN DIEGO WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP INC: $9,000 · EmploymentFriends of the Water Conservation Garden: $9,000 · Environment
Civil Rights$666,100Community Improvement$209,000Crime & Legal$50,000Education$34,250Human Services$19,750Public Benefit$10,000Employment$9,000Environment$9,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCALIFORNIA FORWARD ACTION FUND: $666,100 over 5y, 100% of budgetHELENA GROUP FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetTHE CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSierra Business Council: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMISSION EDGE SAN DIEGO: $19,750 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $9,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAN DIEGO WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP INC: $9,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of the Water Conservation Garden: $9,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSAN DIEGO REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $9,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Fidelity Investments …
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA5.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization California Forward funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from California Forward. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 10 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home