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United Way of Kern County at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

United Way of Kern County

The mission of the UNITED WAY OF KERN COUNTY is to "mobilize donors, advocates and volunteers to improve lives in kern county." the organization accomplishes this by raising and investing financial resources in programs that advance the common good; collaborating with other organizations to leverage resources around critical community…

$757k
Granted FY2020
5
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$466k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

Housing & Shelter$1.6MHuman Services$125kReligion$30kFood & Nutrition$28kPhilanthropy$26kCommunity Improvement$15kOther$0
02FY2020 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2020

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $26k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $265k
  • $250k+1 grant · $466k
$77,305
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOUSING AUTHORITY$465,968
BAKERSFIELD HOMELESS CENTER$130,538
CALIFORNIA VETERANS ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION$77,305
COMMUNITY ACTION PARNTERSHIP OF KERN$57,000
OTHER SMALL GRANTS - CO UNITED WAY OF KERN COUNTY$25,907
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–20, $713k) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 17%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 17%THE HOPE CENTER: $5k → 18%CALIFORNIA VETERANS ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION: $77k → 18%COMMUNITY ACTION PARNTERSHIP OF KERN: $57k → 18%CALIFORNIA VETERANS ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION: $33k → 18%HOUSING AUTHORITY: $466k → 18%ALLIANCE AGAINST FAMILY VIOLENCE: $50k → 18%COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP OF KERN - 211: $15k → 18%CAPK - FOOD BANK: $10k → 18%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.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 4 repeat orgs$602k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +63% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2020, 0 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
8

Total granted

$1.3M
$136k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+63%
+36%

Still filing today

75%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $466k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20
Human ServicesFood & NutritionPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BS
    BETHANY SERVICES INC
    3× · 2017–2020 · $1.0M · revenue +63%
  • CV
    California Veterans Assistance
    2× · 2019–2020 · $110k · revenue +15%
  • CA
    COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP OF KERN
    2× · 2017–2020 · $82k · revenue +142%

Funded once

  • TO
    THE OPEN DOOR NETWORKgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +885%
  • TM
    THE MISSION AT KERN COUNTY
    one grant, 2017 · $30k
  • GE
    GOLDEN EMPIRE GLEANERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $18k · revenue +36%
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
Mary's Mercy Center

Mary's Mercy Center reaffirms the dignity of the poor and marginalized by providing food, clothing, and transitional housing to homeless families and individuals.

Food & Nutrition
2
Bakersfield Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative

To end homelessness in kern county through collaborative planning and action.

Human Services
3
Oxnard Homeless Prevntion
Human Services
4
Welcome Home Housing Inc

Welcome Home Housing is a non-profit organization in Sacramento California that provides affordable housing and services to individuals with mental illness.

Human Services
5
Flood Bakersfield Ministries Inc

To meet the physical, relational and spiritual needs of the homeless, sober living home residents, motel dwellers and those entrenched in generational poverty within kern county

Human Services
6
California Housing Partner Corporation

The California Housing Partnership Corporation creates and preserves affordable and sustainable homes for Californians with low incomes by providing expert financial and policy solutions to nonprofit and public partners.

Unclassified
7
Madera Rescue Mission Inc

The rescue mission provides services to the homeless population in madera county in california. it provides housing for men, women, and families on an emergency short-term basis. it also operates a rehabilitation program for men and women.

Human Services
8
Neighborhood House of Calexico

to engage in social action through self-determination for all individuals by providing educational, financial, housing, and other support services.

Community Improvement
9
Sonoma Applied Village Services

Address the homeless crisis in California.

Housing & Shelter
10
Hands of Hope Resources for Homeless Families

Hands of Hope works to enhance the quality of life in the Yuba-Sutter area by: Providing core support services to the homeless; Reintegrating the homeless within our community; Engaging the community to respond to the challenge of…

Housing & Shelter
11
Bakersfield Recovery Services

Provide residential and outpatient treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

Health
12
Bay Area Community Services Housing Corp

Improve the quality of life for individuals in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, Monterey County, Sacramento County and the surrounding area in the State of California.

Housing & Shelter
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bethany Services Inc; the most unlike its peers is Alpha House a Place for New Beginnings. 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

9 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. 9 of the 13 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/9
Grantees still filing
5/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BETHANY SERVICES INC: $1,031,085 · OtherBETHANY SERVICES INC+4 more: $60,263 · Other+4 moreHOUSING AND OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION OF KERN: $465,968 · Human ServicesHOUSING AND OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION OF KERNCalifornia Veterans Assistance: $110,155 · Human ServicesCalifornia Veterans AssistanceCOMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP OF KERN: $82,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP OF KERNTHE OPEN DOOR NETWORK: $50,000 · Human ServicesTHE OPEN DOOR NETWORK+2 more: $8,333 · Human ServicesUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL EASTERN CALIFORNIA DBA UNITED WAY OF KERN COUNTY: $31,864 · PhilanthropyGOLDEN EMPIRE GLEANERS INC: $17,500 · Food & Nutrition
Other$1,091,348Human Services$716,456Philanthropy$31,864Food & Nutrition$17,500

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 budgetBETHANY SERVICES INC: $1,031,085 over 3y, 11% of budgetCalifornia Veterans Assistance: $110,155 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP OF KERN: $82,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE OPEN DOOR NETWORK: $50,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL EASTERN CALIFORNIA DBA UNITED WAY OF KERN COUNTY: $31,864 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetGOLDEN EMPIRE GLEANERS INC: $17,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetThe Hope Center Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Bakersfield Memorial …Kern Community Founda…Amazonsmile Foundation
Bakersfield Memorial HospitalAZ13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Bakersfield Memorial Hospital · Kern Community Foundation · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 United Way of Kern County funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from United Way of Kern County. 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 13 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2020, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on United Way of Kern County’s filings →

    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