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California · Nonprofit

California Youth Defender Center Inc

California Youth Defender Center Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $640,519 to it, the largest being CRANKSTART FOUNDATION ($200,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$649k
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$641k
Net assets
$558k
2/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 66%
01What it does

What California Youth Defender Center Inc does

Mission

Defend youth rights by building and training a statewide defense coalition that challenges injustices, drives policy change, and champions community.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Through specialized training programs, educational support, and policy reform work, PJDC provides leadership on juvenile justice issues in California with a holistically-focused approach to juvenile defense that takes into account the unique legal, educational, emotional and psychological needs, and inherent potential of youth. Specifically, this is accomplished through amicus support, training and technical assistance, and legislative and policy advocacy. Amicus Support is where we write amicus briefs in various appellate courts and Supreme Courts across California and sometimes nationally on issues pertaining to juvenile delingquency cases. Training and technical assistance is provided to lawyers, social workers, and policy advocates across the state of California who represent youth in the juvenile delinquency system. We advocate for youth reform in California and engage in limited legislative activities.

    $226,021 spent$27,650 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $226,021.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($130k) Expenses 100 ($124k) Net assets 100 ($99k)2018 Revenue 101 ($132k) Expenses 113 ($140k) Net assets 92 ($91k)2019 Revenue 150 ($195k) Expenses 198 ($246k) Net assets 40 ($40k)2020 Revenue 203 ($264k) Expenses 172 ($214k) Net assets 91 ($90k)2021 Revenue 238 ($310k) Expenses 161 ($200k) Net assets 202 ($201k)2022 Revenue 266 ($347k) Expenses 154 ($191k) Net assets 359 ($356k)2023 Revenue 133 ($174k) Expenses 291 ($361k) Net assets 170 ($169k)2024 Revenue 358 ($467k) Expenses 215 ($266k) Net assets 372 ($370k)2025 Revenue 498 ($649k) Expenses 371 ($461k) Net assets 562 ($558k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (498)Expenses (371)Net assets (562)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $40k to $255k (+541%).

$99k
$91k
$40k
$255k
$283k
$356k
$169k
$375k
$576k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 66% · 2021 67% · 2022 74% · 2024 35%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

97% of California Youth Defender Center Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (94% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,778 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

’17
’18
’19
$50k
’20
$110k
’21
$155k
’22
−$187k
’23
$201k
’24
$188k
’25
15
months of
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

Brooke Harris

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'24'25
Listed1112111515151717
Joined·+1+1+12+0+4·+0
No longer listed·02804·0
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base held at 3 funders, grant income fell $175k → $10k.

1 of 10 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 Youth Defender Center 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 Youth Defender Center Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% 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

31%
largest funder
80%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 94% · 2021 95% · 2022 100% · 2023 49% — 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

20% of California Youth Defender Center Inc's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 20% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

73% of California Youth Defender Center Inc's grant income comes from California funders.

NY
CA
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $440 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

California Youth Defender Center Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin29% · top quartile
Months of reserve15.0mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)22% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,547 crime & legal nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like California Youth Defender Center 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

83% of spending goes to programs.

Program 83%Management 15%Fundraising 2%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

94%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for California Youth Defender Center 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.

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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 Defender Center Inc?
California Youth Defender Center Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $640,519 to it, the largest being CRANKSTART FOUNDATION ($200,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does California Youth Defender Center Inc have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $640,519 in grants to California Youth Defender Center Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of California Youth Defender Center Inc?
CRANKSTART FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like California Youth Defender Center 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.

Play a game about who funds California Youth Defender Center →

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 10 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