California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER
CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER (California) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,851,321 to it, the largest being The James Irvine Foundation ($3,750,000). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.8M
- Funders on record
- 44
- Grants received
- $26M
- Net assets
- $7.1M
What California Budget & Policy Center does
Mission
The budget center provides dependable, timely, policy guidance and public education through our independent research and analysis, public education, strategic collaborations, and communications to expand economic opportunities and promote well-being for all californians.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The budget center distributes research and analysis by producing both long- and short-form publications. The budget center produced 53 analyses in 2024 that were published on our website and distributed to our email subscriber list which averaged 10,440 subscribers. Our website had a total of 513,726 visitors. The budget center is a trusted source of reliable information for the media, featured in 420 unique articles and 106 broadcast spots in 2024. We also distribute our publications through social media where we maintained an average of 10,000 followers and had an average of 17,500 impressions per month.
$3,480,995 spent73% of program spendingThe budget center also engages with organizations across the state by participating in speaking engagements, serving on boards and committees, and providing technical assistance. Our staff served on 33 boards or committees at any given time throughout the year, participated in 108 speaking engagements, and fulfilled 351 technical assistance requests from state and local organizations and policymakers and their staff. These engagement opportunities help maximize our impact to improve policy for all californians.the budget center hosted 16 virtual events in 2024 with 4,369 registrants and one in-person event with 355 registrants.
$180,649 spent$97,625 earned by the program4% of program spendingThe budget center also serves as a partner and co-host in the budget power project, a partnership to build local and state budget advocacy capacity to improve outcomes in local budget decisions through education, training, technical assistance, capacity building, and peer learning.
$1,094,362 spentof which $1,077,168 as grants23% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,756,006.
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 2022 to 2023, from $6.2M to $9.8M (+58%).
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: 2019 1% · 2020 9% · 2021 1% · 2023 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Christopher Hoene
Executive director
Board chair
Veronica Carrizales
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $1.6M → $6.2M.
11 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 BUDGET & POLICY CENTER’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
CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
25% 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 BUDGET & POLICY CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 20% · 2019 22% · 2020 26% · 2021 22% · 2022 20% · 2023 24% — 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
46% of CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
86% of CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M 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
CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
57%
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 CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER: 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 CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER?
- CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER (California) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,851,321 to it, the largest being The James Irvine Foundation ($3,750,000). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $25,851,321 in grants to CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER?
- The James Irvine Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $3,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA BUDGET & POLICY CENTER 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.
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