· Public charity
The Opportunity Institute
THE OPPORTUNITY INSTITUTE is a non-profit organization that promotes social mobility and equity by improving outcomes from early childhood through early career.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2020
- $10k–50k8 grants · $172k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $109k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| COLLEGE FUTURES FOUNDATION | $109,108 |
| KERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT | $25,000 |
| SHASTA COLLEGE | $25,000 |
| CHAFFEY COLLEGE | $25,000 |
| STREET SCHOLARS-THE GAMBLE INSTITUTE | $25,000 |
| SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY | $25,000 |
| CAL STATE LA UNIVERSITY AUXILIARY SERVICES INC | $25,000 |
| COMMUNITY PARTNERS | $11,206 |
| CAMPAIGN FOR COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY | $10,595 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 46% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
7 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2020, 2 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2020, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $131k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SFSAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY2× · 2017–2020 · $538k
- KCKERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT2× · 2017–2019 · $520k
- SJSHASTA-TEHAMA-TRINITY JNT CCD3× · 2017–2020 · $395k
Funded once
- CFCOLLEGE FUTURES FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $109k · revenue +145%
- CPCOMMUNITY PARTNERSgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $11k · revenue +111%
- CFCAMPAIGN FOR COLLEGE OPPORTUNITYone grant, 2020 · $11k · revenue +24%
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.
6 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. 6 of the 10 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Foundation for California Community Colleges · California Humanities · The James Irvine Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Opportunity Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Opportunity Institute. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Opportunity Institute’s filings →