California · Nonprofit
California Transportation Foundation
California Transportation Foundation (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $255,872 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY CALIFORNIA CAPITAL REGION ($163,124). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $581k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $256k
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What California Transportation Foundation does
Mission
At California Transportation Foundation (CTF) our mission is simple. We recognize the best and brightest in our industry with our Annual CTF Transportation Awards program. We remember those who have given all in service to the people of California, providing funding to workers and their families in their time of need. And we educate the future of our profession through scholarships, educational programs, mentoring, and internships.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
CTF hosts several signature events throughout the year aimed at recognizing excellence in the California Transportation Industry, as well as educational events for students entering the transportation profession and transportation professionals. Specifically CTF hosts the Transportation Forum that features leading-edge transportation topics and leaders from across California. The CTF Transportation Awards Gala honors the accomplishments of the Person, Elected Official, Organization and Project of the Year along with 18 other award recipients in various transportation-related categories. Lastly, CTF hosts the two-day Education Symposium that pairs college students studying a variety of transportation-related fields and seasoned professionals in a mentoring program that has been successful over three decades in creating a pipeline for new students entering the transportation industry.
$436,948 spent74% of program spendingCTF administers 47 different scholarships for California students interested in studying a transportation-related field. CTF scholarships support students from high school through graduate level studies in a variety of disciplines. CTF scholarship partners determine the criteria for their respective scholarship awards, and CTF provides resources to assist with scholarship publicity, evaluation, and fundraising, and CTF disburses scholarship awards to students.
$107,244 spent18% of program spendingCTF supports families of transportation workers who are injured or killed on the job with fallen worker grants, and assistance and memorial funds. Additionally CTF provides emergency relief grants to families of transportation workers who lose a home due to a natural disaster such as a fire, flood, or earthquake. These grants and assistance funds are essential to families who are experiencing a crisis, as benefits often take some time to reach the family in need, and CTF is able to act quickly to provide financial support when they may otherwise be unable to access needed funds.
$46,370 spent8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $590,562.
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.
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 $1.8M to $1.3M (−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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Darin Johnson
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $27k → $21k.
1 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 Transportation Foundation’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 Transportation Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 Transportation Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 64% · 2022 43% · 2023 76% — 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.
Where its funders are
80% of California Transportation Foundation's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $248 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Organizations like California Transportation Foundation
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 Transportation Foundation: 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 Transportation Foundation?
- California Transportation Foundation (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $255,872 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY CALIFORNIA CAPITAL REGION ($163,124). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does California Transportation Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $255,872 in grants to California Transportation Foundation, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Transportation Foundation?
- UNITED WAY CALIFORNIA CAPITAL REGION is the largest funder on record, with $163,124 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Transportation Foundation 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.
Play a game about who funds California Transportation →
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 7 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