California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER (California) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,482,173 to it, the largest being THE DRAPER FOUNDATION ($2,200,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What California Policy Center does
Mission
The California Policy Center is an educational non-profit working for the prosperity of all californians by eliminating public-sector barriers to freedom.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Strategic grantmaking: strategic grantmaking to organizations that share our mission and vision but differ on strategy. Accomplishments: 1. Distributed support to local disaster relief charities in response to the los angeles wildfires. 2. Incubated and launched the california justice center.
$719,876 spentof which $450,000 as grants31% of program spendingCommunications & education: great ideas dont matter if they just sit on a shelf. Our communications and marketing teams deploy strategic communication campaigns through traditional and new media to create incremental change within the hearts and minds of politicians, the press and californians throughout the state. Accomplishments: xx media radio, podcast, op-eds hits. Helped educate 900,000 californians on their constitutional rights. Developed groundbreaking research that drove insight into californias current governance.
$589,513 spent26% of program spendingCoalition building: uniting parents, community leaders, and policy allies to create a stronger statewide network for reform. This includes our parent union, our local elected officials network and our water & energy business leaders community we are building. Accomplishments: provided policy support and education to over 300 current local elected officials. Helped educate over 150 parent group leaders at our annual parent union summit. Hosted water and energy business leaders for roundtables and abundance strategy sessions.
$567,157 spent25% of program spendingResearch: our research team produces independent, data-driven studies that reveal the real costs of government overreach and spotlight proven solutions. They publish timely reports, reveal policy landmines, and arm reformers inside and outside the government with the credible evidence they need to win lasting change. Groundbreaking research topics include special interest spending in elections, water and energy infrastructure policy, transportation infrastructure design and implementation, union membership since the 2018 janus decision.
$256,419 spent11% of program spendingPolicy reform: this is our team actually working in the statehouse and municipalities across the state implementing reforms that will increase quality education, make housing affordable again and dismantle government barriers to freedom and competition in the state. Achievements: educated policy makers, business leaders and concerned citizens on pending legislation though email, journalism, events and meetings.
$163,274 spent7% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,296,239.
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 2024 to 2025, from $1.7M to $2.9M (+77%).
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.
96% of CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
William Swaim
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $526k → $1.4M.
13 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 POLICY CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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 POLICY CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
48% 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 POLICY CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 88% · 2019 31% · 2020 40% · 2021 44% · 2022 34% · 2023 23% — 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
25% of CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
72% of CALIFORNIA 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. $4.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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 POLICY CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 7,349 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,349 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CALIFORNIA 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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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
- California Action · exempt
- California Policy Partners Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA 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 POLICY CENTER?
- CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER (California) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,482,173 to it, the largest being THE DRAPER FOUNDATION ($2,200,000). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $11,482,173 in grants to CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER?
- THE DRAPER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 47 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