California · Nonprofit
BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL
BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $726,593 to it, the largest being THE ROCK FOUNDATION ($270,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $951k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $727k
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Berkeley Chess School does
Mission
True to its mission of enriching the lives of children from all backgrounds, BCS has undertaken ambitious new outreach programs in Oakland and Richmond Title 1 elementary schools.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Berkeley Chess School offers chess instruction to over 3,000 children in over 70 schools throughout Northern California. Established in 1982 by Elizabeth Shaughnessy, former Irish Women's Chess Champion and former president of the Berkeley School Board, the Berkeley Chess School has introduced the joy of chess to thousands of Bay Area children.The Berkeley Chess School is dedicated to sharing the wonders and joys of chess with as many young people as possible. Through the medium of chess the Berkeley Chess School teaches critical thinking, problem solving, decision making and mental discipline -- skills that affect the learning experience in the classroom and prepare children to enter the adult world as contributing members of society.
$865,194 spent$897,650 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $865,194.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $2.5M to $2.8M (+16%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 1% · 2021 24% · 2022 21% · 2023 0% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
6% of BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Queen Graham
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $10k → $113k.
3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
47% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 69% · 2019 96% · 2020 51% · 2021 58% · 2022 67% · 2023 53% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
17% of BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
88% of BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $259k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 6 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15,520 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL?
- BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $726,593 to it, the largest being THE ROCK FOUNDATION ($270,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $726,593 in grants to BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL?
- THE ROCK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $270,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BERKELEY CHESS SCHOOL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Berkeley Chess School →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 13 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing