California · Nonprofit
BUILD A MIRACLE
BUILD A MIRACLE (California) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,263,346 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($654,225). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 44
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Build a Miracle does
Mission
Build a miracle provides safe, dignified homes to impoverished families in Tijuana, Mexico. In addition, Build A Miracle provides numerous educational opportunities including tutoring, vocational training, scholarships, computer labs and an adult education program.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In 2023 Build A Miracle completed 32 new homes for impoverished families, who also participate in education programs. Full BAM homes are 540 sq ft with 3 bedrooms, indoor plumbing, kitchen, bathroom and living/dining room. They earn their homes with a minimum of 500 hours of community service but most remain involved in our programs indefinitely both improving their own lives and helping others. The homes are built during build days when U.S. and local volunteers mix concrete, hammer nails and paint, and during the work week by experienced, paid builders. The Dads Program, made up of men on the wait list for homes and many who already live in BAM homes, helps extremely impoverished families who live in shacks and do not have land rights so do not qualify for a full home. They make their dwellings safe, pour concrete floors, reinforce walls, replace tarps with real roofing, and build septic tanks. This program has an enormous impact on the lives of the people served and the men themselves. 289 Dads participated in 2023.
$914,452 spent44% of program spendingOur goal is to provide every family that needs it, a path out of the vulnerable class helping the next generation to be able to afford their own home and our academic, scholarship, trade and adult education programs are geared to make that possible, free of charge, to vulnerable Tijuana residents whether they are living in a BAM home or not. EDUCATION During 2023 we provided scholarships to 97 college and 115 HS students, with 60 total college grads to date. The Community Center, offers, free of charge, accredited adult elem., middle and HS, tutoring, counseling, sports, fitness, robotics, nutrition and many more courses over 100 children receive a healthy meal each day that they participate at the center. 750 children attended Summer School at the Community Center in 2023.
$886,045 spent43% of program spendingOther program services Build a miracle provided scholarship assistance to 4 children in Guatemala who lost their father to drowning. Other programs continued and expanded during 2023 include dental and vision care for community members 408 people served who cannot afford them on their own and support for a program that provides education to the largely forgotten children of trash-pickers who live at the municipal dump. The Pandemic-related Direct Relief food and medicine that kept families going, transitioned to helping only helping those unable to return to normal lives and also spawned the Grandparents Program where scholarship recipients visit with and provide interactive programs for the elderly in their communities. 461 people received medical assistance. 39,700 meals were served, 151 elderly people were in Grandparents program which offers Arts and Crafts, Outings, Visits, Haicuts and more. There were 4 psychologists working with 269 individuals or families and 859 workshops for family, psychology, team building and more.
$280,968 spent$2,005 earned by the program13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,081,465.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.2M to $1.9M (+54%).
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.
98% of BUILD A MIRACLE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $47k → $285k.
18 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 78% 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 BUILD A MIRACLE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 44 funders by total. 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
BUILD A MIRACLE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
84% 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 BUILD A MIRACLE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 34% · 2019 24% · 2020 49% · 2021 32% · 2022 38% · 2023 40% — 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.
How long its funders stay
24% of BUILD A MIRACLE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
78% of BUILD A MIRACLE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $495k that is directly attributable, 67% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
BUILD A MIRACLE is better cushioned than half of the 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BUILD A MIRACLE
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 BUILD A MIRACLE: 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 BUILD A MIRACLE?
- BUILD A MIRACLE (California) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,263,346 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($654,225). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 78% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BUILD A MIRACLE have?
- IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $2,263,346 in grants to BUILD A MIRACLE, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUILD A MIRACLE?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $654,225 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUILD A MIRACLE 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 Build a Miracle →
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 44 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing