California · Nonprofit
CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW
CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW (California) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,514,914 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO ($3,237,418). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $45M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $7.5M
- Net assets
- $68M
What California Western School of Law does
Mission
California Western School of Law is an independent, aba/aals and wasc senior college and university commission (wscuc) accredited s.d. Law school that prepares graduates for the practice of law through a carefully sequenced program of study combining traditional legal theory with hands-on learning in real and simulated client environments. California westerns clinics are a legal resource to the community, and through them the law school makes significant, measurable contributions to the solution of legal problems in our community, our society, and our world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
For more than 100 years, California Western School of Law has helped students prepare for success in legal practice and become outstanding lawyers serving their clients and their communities.California Western School of Law provides a rigorous traditional legal education including j.d., dual j.d. /mba, and dual j.d. /msw degrees with an emphasis on developing problem-solving, communication, writing, and analytical thinking skills.at the same time, the law school teaches students the skills of law practice, through simulation courses, client-service clinics, and a robust externship program. This strong theoretical grounding and advanced skill base helps graduates pass the bar exam and provide high quality services to clients and the legal profession from the earliest days of their careers.California Western School of Law has been named to the president's higher education community service honor roll numerous times in recognition of the schools various community-focused projects and programs including the innocence and justice clinic (ijc), community law project, new media rights, and more. Our ijc attorneys, staff and clinical students have had amazing successes in changing peoples…
$37,170,968 spentof which $14,146,049 as grants$41,836,937 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $37,170,968.
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 2020 to 2021, from $67M to $74M (+10%).
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 5% · 2018 5% · 2019 5% · 2021 4% · 2022 6% · 2023 3% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
3% of CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (23% 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.
Board chair
Michael J Whitton Esq
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $200k → $3.6M.
14 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% 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 WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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 WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 59%; 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 WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 52% · 2018 28% · 2019 18% · 2020 40% · 2021 26% · 2022 40% · 2023 84% — 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
56% of CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
67% of CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW'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 $2.4M that is directly attributable, 60% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.8M on record.
- Department of State$8.0M
- Department of Education$1.5M
- Department of Justice$292k
- Department of Defense$23k
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 WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW: 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 WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW?
- CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW (California) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,514,914 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO ($3,237,418). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $7,514,914 in grants to CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW?
- JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO is the largest funder on record, with $3,237,418 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW 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 Western School of Law →
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 46 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