California · Nonprofit
California Emerging Technology Fund
California Emerging Technology Fund (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,565,095 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($500,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $12M
What California Emerging Technology Fund does
Mission
Provide leadership statewide to minimize the Digital Divide by accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband and advanced communications to unserved and underserved communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
CETF completed the development of the CETF Digital Equity Ecosystem as a major asset: integrated to optimize impact of each component, driven by Direct Notification; achieved the most cost-effective system of services operating at scale statewide; and recognized by partners as a valuable asset with increasing references in partner proposals. The CETF Digital Equity Ecosystem is operated as a seamless continuum of supports for CBOs so they can focus on outreach and delivery of services in-language and in-culture to reach the most low-income households. The following are the CETF assets and resources to support the Digital Equity Ecosystem:- Working Relationships Statewide with Spectrum of Community, Public, and Private Partners- Operations at Scale for Cost-Effective Implementation and Grant Management- Ability to Partner with New CBOs as Additional Trusted Messengers to Build Local Capacity- Understanding and Experience in Planning and Managing Direct Notification- Tool Kit and Templates for Affordable Internet Service Offers in Multiple Languages- Get Connected Call Center with Ability to Accommodate Multiple Communications Channels- Curricula to Train Digital Navigators and…
$9,909,010 spentof which $4,076,320 as grants$760,822 earned by the program100% of program spendingCETF completed and met all CETF T-Mobile MOU performance obligations. CETF awarded 35 Local Government Best Practices Check List Grants. The Jurisdiction project engaged and facilitated interdisciplinary collaboration in 3 required Learning Communities, and CETF also conducted 2 optional webinars to encourage and support Jurisdictions to submit CPUC CASF Grant Applications. 29 Action Plans were submitted by 35 Local Governments to distribute information about affordable Internet offers and Digital Literacy Training. 32 Final Reports have been compiled to date, and a Project Summary will be prepared for publication and circulation. Participants reported that the Project has been instrumental in shaping their understanding of what Local Governments can do to accelerate Deployment and Adoption. CETF awarded 55 Digital Equity Leadership Grants. The Leadership Grants awarded to date included a spectrum of organizations: RBCs; MPOs (including permit streamlining); San Joaquin Valley Network Request for Qualifications for Prospective Partnerships (RFQPP) process; NextGen Policy (grassroots engagement for Digital Equity and BEAD planning and ACP enrollment); and the California State…
On December 31, 2024 CETF and >51 Partners were awarded a Competitive Grant ($12M total with $1M net to CETF) by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The CETF award was 1 of 24 across the nation and the only California-based recipient announced by NTIA in the first round of Competitive Grants, which speaks to the extent of inclusive collaboration forged by application and the quality of the NTIA proposal. The award was terminated on May 20, 2025 by NTIA, so CETF focused on a Pivot to the Future. CETF immediately informed Partners and prospective California Department of Technology (CDT) CalDEP Applications Collaborators regarding the NITA termination of the awarded Competitive Grant and the State Capacity Grant. CETF regrouped with Partners, and on behalf of the Partners, submitted a Get Connected! California Partnership (GCCP) Grant Application to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for a California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) Adoption Account. The purpose of this Grant is to build capacity among 46 Partners to accelerate Broadband Adoption by 15,0000 low-income households (HHs). The Partners include:…
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,909,010.
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 $23M to $50M (+120%).
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: 2022 60% · 2023 3% · 2024 21% · 2025 68%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of California Emerging Technology Fund’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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
Sunne Wright McPeak
President and CEO
Board chair
Renee Martinez
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $1.1M → $32k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 Emerging Technology Fund’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 9 of 10 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 Emerging Technology Fund leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
76% 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 Emerging Technology Fund.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 46% · 2021 77% · 2022 100% · 2023 78% — growing more concentrated.
“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
0% of California Emerging Technology Fund's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 30% 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
70% of California Emerging Technology Fund'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 $474k that is directly attributable, 75% of it comes from funders outside California, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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 Emerging Technology Fund holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding California Emerging Technology Fund receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $490k on record.
- Federal Communications Commission$490k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like California Emerging Technology Fund
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
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 Emerging Technology Fund: 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 Emerging Technology Fund?
- California Emerging Technology Fund (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,565,095 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($500,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does California Emerging Technology Fund have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $1,565,095 in grants to California Emerging Technology Fund, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Emerging Technology Fund?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Emerging Technology Fund 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 10 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