California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,599,962 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,400,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $5.6M
- Net assets
- $9.3M
What California Restaurant Foundation Inc does
Mission
To provide every student in ca access to pursue a career & education in the food service industry.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Educational assistance through scholarships for students interested in the restaurant and hospitality industries.
$214,174 spentof which $165,500 as grants9% of program spendingCreate a brand of excellence in training for hospitality industry jobs by supporting prostart programs through the state of california in high schools. To create a new generation of restaurateurs by fueling a desire in young people to enter the restaurant community.nationally, prostart is recognized as the industry-backed training for high school culinary arts programs. The california restaurant foundation provides culinary and hospitality training and career opportunities to thousands of students in public high schools across the state. Prostart's job readiness training bridges the gap between education and employment. This bridge is critical for youth from all backgrounds, but especially for those who are first generation college bound and low-income. Vocational training (also known as career and technical education cte) programs provide practical skills that are directly transferable to various industries, including time management, teamwork and collaboration, and creative thinking. These benefits are critical for the students we serve. Prostart encourages students to develop their unique passions, interests, and abilities, whether that's in the culinary arts and hospitality,…
$501,153 spent$4,061 earned by the program20% of program spendingRestaurants care launched in 2017 to provide releif grants to food and beverage workers facing unforseen hardship. By helping with grants for basic needs due to injury, illness, accident, family death or natural disaster, crf unites the industry to award crisis grants to members of california's restaurant and hospitality community. Crf provides a support network of resources for additional assistance to food and beverage workers. Restaurants care is a safety net for those at the heart of restaurants and foodservice. In 2021 crf expanded restaurants care to provide resilience grants to small independent restaurants with a priority given to people of color and women-owned restaurants.crf created the grateful table and the grateful table dine out fundraisers as an additional source to raise funds for restaurants care. Other sources of funding include personal donations, corporate partnerships, event sponsorships, grants, giving crew, and events. The grateful table is a communal dinner celebration featuring celebrated chefs, live music, a twilight reception in the garden, and a dessert bar under the stars. The grateful table dine out is a marketing campaign in november to drive…
$1,785,137 spentof which $1,590,300 as grants71% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,500,464.
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 2017 to 2018, from $2.7M to $5.2M (+93%).
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% · 2018 0% · 2020 1% · 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (71% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Board chair
Wayne Hilston
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $60k → $2.0M.
12 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.4M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest California Restaurant Association). These are real filings, and they are not money CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC’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 RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% 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
62% 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 RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 53% · 2019 67% · 2020 20% · 2021 18% · 2022 60% · 2023 52% — broadly stable.
“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
31% of CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
52% of CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC'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 $2.7M that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M 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 RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 612 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 612 unclassified nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 4 related entities
- California Restaurant Association · exempt
- California Restaurant Association Issues PAC · exempt
- Cra Candidates PAC · exempt
- Cra Services Corporation · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC: 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 RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC?
- CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,599,962 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,400,000). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $5,599,962 in grants to CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC?
- CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT FOUNDATION INC 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 30 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