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California · Nonprofit

CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA

CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,184,905 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,025,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$3.5M
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$3.2M
Net assets
$2.0M
5/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 68%
01What it does

What California Black Media does

Mission

In effort to balance reporting of important public policy to underserved communitites, cbm facilitates communication between these undersesrved communities, grassroots organization, and policy makers by cultivating and distributing fact-based reporting through partnerships with over 30 media outlets on leading public policy issues that impact their lives.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The joe c. Hopkins initiative now reflects support for community independently owned media, including ethnic media. The program helps the industry develop sustainable revenue models to ensure that high-quality, fact-based journalism is produced locally in diverse communities.

    $1,123 spent$1,000,000 earned by the program
    0% of program spending
  2. Stop the hate outreach and messaging efforts are being tailored specifically for ethnic media outlets across california. These efforts aim to strengthen community engagement, promote inclusivity, and ensure accurate, culturally relevant information reaches diverse audiences.

    $1,098,628 spent$956,283 earned by the program
    39% of program spending
  3. The california black health journalism project's goal is to support a journalism project that will report on california's mental health crisis and how its impacting black californians, and explore proposed policy solutions and the implications for california's black communities.

    $225,550 spent$200,000 earned by the program
    8% of program spending
  4. Supporting local journalism, media equity, and civic engagement.

    $1,458,692 spent$1,322,072 earned by the program
    52% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,783,993.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($411k) Expenses 100 ($407k) Net assets 100 ($8k)2018 Revenue 180 ($737k) Expenses 57 ($232k) Net assets 6222 ($513k)2019 Revenue 225 ($925k) Expenses 229 ($933k) Net assets 6131 ($506k)2020 Revenue 190 ($778k) Expenses 224 ($915k) Net assets 4480 ($370k)2021 Revenue 880 ($3.6M) Expenses 639 ($2.6M) Net assets 16741 ($1.4M)2022 Revenue 466 ($1.9M) Expenses 476 ($1.9M) Net assets 15085 ($1.2M)2023 Revenue 483 ($2.0M) Expenses 473 ($1.9M) Net assets 15772 ($1.3M)2024 Revenue 853 ($3.5M) Expenses 783 ($3.2M) Net assets 23889 ($2.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (853)Expenses (783)Net assets (23889)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $395k to $1.7M (+320%).

$8k
$513k
$506k
$395k
$1.7M
$1.4M
$1.6M
$2.4M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

99% of CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,024 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$3k
’17
$505k
’18
−$8k
’19
−$136k
’20
$1.0M
’21
−$28k
’22
$57k
’23
$313k
’24
3.8
months of
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

Micah Grant

Chairman

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed33335555
Joined·+0+0+0+3+0+0+2
No longer listed·0001002
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $500k → $565k.

3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA’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

CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

58% 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 CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA.

32%
largest funder
73%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 99% · 2020 67% · 2021 40% · 2022 94% · 2023 32% — 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

50% of CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 45% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

93% of CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA's grant income comes from California funders.

NJ
CA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA has grown faster than three-quarters of the 976 civil rights nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve3.8mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)36% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 976 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 13%Fundraising 0%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA: 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.

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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 CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA?
CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,184,905 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($1,025,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $3,184,905 in grants to CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA?
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,025,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CALIFORNIA BLACK MEDIA 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 California Black Media →

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 11 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