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California · Nonprofit

CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO

CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $905,420 to it, the largest being WOMEN'S ECONOMIC VENTURES ($322,500). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$48M
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$905k
Net assets
$472k
5/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 2%
01What it does

What Childrens Resource & Referral of Santa Barbara Co does

Mission

To develop strong and healthy families throughout santa barbara county by providing education, care, and resource systems to young children, their parents, and caregivers, with a special emphasis on low income and underrepresented children and families.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Alternative payment program: provides child care payment for low income families who are employed, seeking employment, or who are participating in a job training or education program.

    $38,079,096 spent
    84% of program spending
  2. Child care food program: reimbursed food costs to licensed family child care providers who serve nutritious meals.

    $3,414,286 spent
    7% of program spending
  3. Resources and Referral (R&R): These programs provide information to all parents and the community about the availability of child car, assist potential providers in the licensing process, provide direct services including training, and coordinate community resources for the benefit of parents and local child care providers.

    $1,839,989 spent
    4% of program spending
  4. Other state child care development programs, county and foundations for quality child care services.

    $2,236,505 spent
    5% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $45,569,876.

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 ($5.0M) Expenses 100 ($5.1M) Net assets 100 ($332k)2018 Revenue 125 ($6.3M) Expenses 123 ($6.3M) Net assets 104 ($345k)2019 Revenue 149 ($7.5M) Expenses 149 ($7.6M) Net assets 83 ($275k)2020 Revenue 184 ($9.3M) Expenses 182 ($9.2M) Net assets 99 ($328k)2021 Revenue 214 ($11M) Expenses 212 ($11M) Net assets 120 ($397k)2022 Revenue 279 ($14M) Expenses 275 ($14M) Net assets 136 ($452k)2023 Revenue 448 ($23M) Expenses 444 ($23M) Net assets 141 ($467k)2024 Revenue 778 ($39M) Expenses 770 ($39M) Net assets 165 ($549k)2025 Revenue 957 ($48M) Expenses 952 ($48M) Net assets 142 ($472k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (957)Expenses (952)Net assets (142)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 2023 to 2024, from $4.7M to $9.3M (+98%).

$1.0M
$1.3M
$1.4M
$1.5M
$1.6M
$2.6M
$4.7M
$9.3M
$11M
'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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 94% · 2018 96% · 2019 95% · 2020 98% · 2021 98% · 2022 96% · 2023 96% · 2024 95% · 2025 96%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

98% of CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 3,400 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$36k
’17
$13k
’18
−$70k
’19
$54k
’20
$15k
’21
$105k
’22
$14k
’23
$89k
’24
−$71k
’25
0.2
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

Michelle Graham

CEO

Board chair

Beau Pierce

Board president

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed7888998811
Joined·+1+3+0+1+1+1+0+3
No longer listed·03001200
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $16k → $73k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
$323k
Cottage Healthunclassified
$10k
funders
1
1
1
1
3
4
3
2
1

1 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 6 of 7 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

CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

65% 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 CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO.

36%
largest funder
97%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 62% · 2022 87% · 2023 93% — 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.

Where its funders are

100% of CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO's grant income comes from California funders.

CA

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

’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $255k 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

CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,297 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−0% · below the median
Months of reserve0.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)33% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,297 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO

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

94% of spending goes to programs.

Program 94%Management 6%Fundraising 0%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

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 CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO: 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 CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO?
CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $905,420 to it, the largest being WOMEN'S ECONOMIC VENTURES ($322,500). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $905,420 in grants to CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO?
WOMEN'S ECONOMIC VENTURES is the largest funder on record, with $322,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CHILDRENS RESOURCE & REFERRAL OF SANTA BARBARA CO 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), 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