California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE
CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,680,486 to it, the largest being MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,845,150). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.7M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $6.7M
- Net assets
- $5.3M
What California Film Institute does
Mission
The California Film Institute celebrates film and videos as art and education. Its goal is to present and support emerging and established independent filmakers whose works address issues relevant to contemporary society. This is accomplished through the presentation of the internationally renowned mill valley film festival, year-round programs at the rafael film center, educational seminars, community outreach programs, and national and international exchange efforts.the mission of the cfi is to celebrate film and video. There is no other medium of the 20th and 21st century that is more powerful than the moving image. At its best, it is the art form that inspires us to explore how we relate to our planet and to ourselves.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The mill valley film festival is committed to providing new and innovative works in film to audiences in northern california and beyond. This non-competitive event includes around 100 programs of independent features, documentaries, shorts, as well as tributes, seminars, interactive presentations, and special events. Entry fees and ticket sales help offset the cost of the arts event. Doclands is a world class, non-competitive celebration of the best documentary filmmaking introduced by cfi in 2018 and presenting 30 films to 6500 attendees each year. Cfi awards independent filmmakers as part of the organizations docpitch event which is a part of the doclands documentary film festival. Cfi holds an event for filmmakers to "pitch" their films. At the event a vote is done, and winners are given funding to help complete their films.
$3,184,636 spentof which $100,000 as grants52% of program spendingOur two theathers, christopher b. Smith san rafael film center and sequoia cinema, serve as the communitys trusted year-round film curator and provides bay area residents with exposure to a wide range of independent and international films in a quality environment. The centers film programs reach an audience of 125,000 patrons each year.
$2,437,535 spent40% of program spendingThe cfi education program provides bay area students and lifelong learners from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to learn about themselves and the world through film and filmmaking. Education programs reached some 10,000 students and teachers annually.
$464,847 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,087,018.
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 2021 to 2022, from $8.3M to $6.3M (−25%).
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: 2017 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 13% · 2021 11% · 2022 24% · 2023 5% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $742k → $1.2M.
17 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 FILM INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 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 FILM INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 57%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
78% 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 FILM INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 53% · 2019 25% · 2020 68% · 2021 52% · 2022 38% · 2023 31% — 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
39% of CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
74% of CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE'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 $1.7M that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 FILM INSTITUTE's revenue grew 43% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $185k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$185k
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 FILM INSTITUTE
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Friends of the Cfi-Sequoia Theatre LLC · disregarded
- Friends of the Cfi-Sequoia Theatre LLC · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE: 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 FILM INSTITUTE?
- CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,680,486 to it, the largest being MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,845,150). 45 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $6,680,486 in grants to CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE, 45 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE?
- MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,845,150 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA FILM INSTITUTE 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 73 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