California · Nonprofit
California Youth Connection
California Youth Connection (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,494,165 to it, the largest being SIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT ($1,015,684). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $6.5M
- Net assets
- $971k
What California Youth Connection does
Mission
CYC was established in 1988 after several years of increasing youth participation in California. CYC opened a statewide office in San Francisco in 1995, and transitioned to a fully remote workforce across the state in 2024. Our membership continues to expand and improve communication and coordination among the local chapters. Since the statewide office opened, the number of CYC chapters has increased over 200%. This growth reflects the tremendous positive response to CYC around the state, from social services executives and legislators, to the youth themselves. Consequently, CYCs members now sit on numerous policy committees within the child welfare field, and CYC, as an organization, has contributed greatly to the body of knowledge on how youth believe the foster care system can be improved. CYC members and staff also coordinate two statewide conferences per year where youth assemble to study issues, receive training on leadership and the legislative process, meet with lawmakers and p
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Member Engagement:On a statewide level California Youth Connection (CYC) operates within 6 regions, with 35 chapters on a local level and selects and works on county policy issues that they believe could be improved. Chapters meet twice a month and consider ways to educate local policy makers about their experiences in care and their recommendations for change. Since California has a state-run, county-administered child welfare system, youth understand that some local policies can be changed, which will impact foster youth throughout their county. CYCs work provides valuable insights into ways to improve service delivery for foster youth. CYC has established a strong reputation as a credible organization that brings the views of foster youth to the forefront. The Youth Offering Unique Tangible Help Training Project (YTP), a nonprofit program that provides development services to youth and training opportunities to child welfare professionals, became a part of CYCs program effective February 13, 2012. CYC acquired Foster Youth In Action (FYIA) in July, 2021. FYIAs mission is building a movement led by a network of foster-led groups and people with lived experience to dismantle…
$2,005,060 spent$23,028 earned by the program100% of program spendingCalifornia Youth Connection is a nonprofit advocacy/youth leadership organization composed of current and former foster youth that strive to improve the foster care system by making it possible for the youth to have a say in how child welfare services are delivered. With 35 county-based chapters throughout California, CYC works at the state and local levels to educate legislators and policy makers about how policies and programs affect foster youth. Current or former foster youth members sit on, and participate in, committees and give presentations throughout the state on their experiences in foster care and their recommendations for change. One of the primary goals of the organization is to improve social work practice and policy by empowering youth to articulate how things can be done differently.
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,005,060.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.8M to $3.1M (+76%).
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 66% · 2018 62% · 2019 67% · 2020 49% · 2021 33% · 2022 40% · 2023 32% · 2024 37% · 2025 58%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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
David Channer
Board President
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $559k → $578k.
10 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 Youth Connection’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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 Youth Connection has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
59% 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 Youth Connection.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 55% · 2019 33% · 2020 53% · 2021 46% · 2022 29% · 2023 26% — 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
29% of California Youth Connection's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 48% 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
79% of California Youth Connection's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.
Organizations like California Youth Connection
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
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 Youth Connection: 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 Youth Connection?
- California Youth Connection (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,494,165 to it, the largest being SIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT ($1,015,684). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does California Youth Connection have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $6,494,165 in grants to California Youth Connection, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of California Youth Connection?
- SIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT is the largest funder on record, with $1,015,684 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like California Youth Connection 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 Youth Connection →
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 40 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