California · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES
CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $534,786 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($315,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $260k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $535k
- Net assets
- $43k
What Center for Sacred Studies does
Mission
The Center for Sacred Studies (css) is dedicated to sustaining ways of life based on collaboration and reciprocity with the earth and all her beings. Css activities include providing prayer services, ceremonies, and a variety of gatherings for worship according to various traditions. The purpose of these offerings is to invite individuals, families and the community to develop devotion and to strengthen their relationship to the divine. Css programs include directed study and ministerial training. The directed study explores methodologies, practices, theories, traditions, beliefs, scriptures, philosophies and individual spiritual experiences. The goal is to enlighten an individual's practice of worship and daily living for the purpose of living one's life as a walking prayer. The ministry training prepares one to assist others through the "directed study" as listed above. Those going through the css ministry training may be ordained and able to conduct ceremonies, study groups, and ass
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS:CSS programs include directed study and ministerial training. The directed study explores methodologies, practices, theories, traditions, beliefs, scriptures, philosophies and individual spiritual experiences. The goal is to enlighten an individuals practice of worship and daily living for the purpose of living one's life as a walking prayer.
$75,965 spent$62,354 earned by the program53% of program spendingFiscal sponsorships: Center for Sacred Studies acts as a fiscal sponsor for various programs whose missions are aligned with our own tax-exempt mission and goals. Center for Sacred Studies offers services in accounting, human resources, mentoring, and legal and organizational support.
$56,576 spent$18,538 earned by the program39% of program spendingFundraising outreach
$7,957 spent$13,598 earned by the program6% of program spendingALLIANCE PROGRAM:CSSS ALLIANCE program includes collaboration with other organizations and programs that protects the Earth and all Her beings, for peace and unity for all. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures, lands, medicines and language.
$3,296 spent$10,543 earned by the program2% of program spendingKayumari Sanctuary Program:Kayumari in the Redwoods Sanctuary Program, in collaboration with Wildwood Foundation located in Guerneville California, provides the land base and retreat facilities for the Center for Sacred Studies programs of study. Sanctuary activities also include providing prayer services, ceremonies and a variety of gatherings for worship according to various spiritual traditions.
$500 spent$2,540 earned by the program0% of program spendingMINISTRY TRAINING: The Ministry Training prepares one to assist others through the "directed study" as listed below. Those going through the CSS Ministry Training may be ordained and able to conduct ceremonies, study groups, and assist individuals through their unique spiritual process.
THE CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES CENTER AND EARTH & SPIRIT STORE:CSS has a physical location in Guerneville, California where we Create sacred space with different cultural traditions in prayer and the sharing of knowledge; are Unified by Cultural traditions; Serve Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit; Offer workshops, classes, and ancient healing modalities; Sell crystals, books, jewelry, music and artisan items to create sacred space; and in the Spirit of Collaboration and Reciprocity, build bridges of understanding with other healing centers and communities.
The mother earth delegation for united original nations: following the instructions of mother earth led by the wisdom of original peoples, holds monthly online prayer gatherings bringing the sacred songs, teachings and messages from mother earth about how to walk through these challenging times. These online gatherings have brought the delegation to the world stage and a global community is forming around this prayer.
The 8 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $144,294.
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 2018 to 2019, from $93k to $388k (+318%).
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.
41% of CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $19k → $32k.
6 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES’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
CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 85% · 2019 86% · 2020 92% · 2021 80% · 2022 62% · 2023 47% — 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 CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
75% of CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES'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 $136k that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside California, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $399k 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.
Against its field
CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 12,816 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,816 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES
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
79% 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 CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES: 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 CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES?
- CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $534,786 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($315,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $534,786 in grants to CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES?
- AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $315,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR SACRED STUDIES 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 11 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