California · Nonprofit
BIG MINDS INCORPORATED
BIG MINDS INCORPORATED (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $305,617 to it, the largest being CARTER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($275,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $306k
- Net assets
- $-446893
What Big Minds Incorporated does
Mission
Big minds is an attachment-based, community-focused school designed to give twice-exceptional (2e) students the time and support necessary to grow into thoughtful, articulate citizens.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Big minds is a radically different, accessible education program for twice-exceptional students, grades k-8. Our student-to-teacher ratio is 4:1, and all of our learning is done in project-based and strengths-led 1:1 or small group settings. We utilize what your student is passionate about as a vehicle for filling in the building blocks they might struggle with as part of their disability. Our focus is on socio-emotional development that supports both cognitive and creative growth. Students and teachers are continually engaged in a passionate, reciprocal learning process.
$1,749,767 spent100% of program spendingOur mission and curriculum are rooted in disability justice; we impress upon our students that being 2e means they are part of a greater community and that it is fundamentally a problem that the education system was not built for them. We want our students to leave big minds with the skills to navigate the world as it is and as socially literate humans who feel comfortable advocating for themselves.
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,749,767.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2024 to 2025, from $236k to $822k (+249%).
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: 2021 10% · 2022 6% · 2024 10% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of BIG MINDS INCORPORATED’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $149 → $50k.
4 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 BIG MINDS INCORPORATED’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
BIG MINDS INCORPORATED leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 76% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of BIG MINDS INCORPORATED's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $31k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
BIG MINDS INCORPORATED has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BIG MINDS INCORPORATED
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BIG MINDS INCORPORATED: 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 BIG MINDS INCORPORATED?
- BIG MINDS INCORPORATED (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $305,617 to it, the largest being CARTER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($275,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BIG MINDS INCORPORATED have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $305,617 in grants to BIG MINDS INCORPORATED, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIG MINDS INCORPORATED?
- CARTER FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $275,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIG MINDS INCORPORATED 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 Big Minds →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 5 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