Washington · Nonprofit
Cierra Sisters
Cierra Sisters (Washington) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $600,975 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($204,051). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $244k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $601k
- Net assets
- $447k
What Cierra Sisters does
Mission
Our mission is to break the cycle of fear and increase knowledge concerning breast cancer in African-American and underserved communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Cierra Sisters works to increase breast cancer knowledge, awareness, and access to care in African-American and underserved communities. We do this by hosting culturally tailored support groups, holding educational and wellness events, providing direct support to women and families navigating cancer, and partnering with medical institutions and researchers to build stronger connections between science and community. Cierra Sisters has been built and directed by the very community we serve - rooted in oral traditions and deep relationships. We know the difference we're making, and with our limited resources and capacity, our focus has been on delivering services and being responsive to community needs. As we build organizational capacity and long-term stability, we are also developing the resources, tools, and expertise to better evaluate our impact, report to external audiences, and use data to sharpen our program and advocacy focus. In 2024, Cierra Sisters served more than 3,900 people through our programs, outreach, and advocacy efforts. Highlights include: -Support Groups: 200 participants annually; providing culturally responsive spaces for healing, support, and connection.…
$181,216 spent100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $181,216.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $192k to $340k (+77%).
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: 2020 16% · 2021 5% · 2022 12% · 2023 24% · 2024 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Cierra Sisters’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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.
Chief executive
Bridgette Hempstead
CEO to November 2024
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $135k → $121k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 Cierra Sisters’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
Cierra Sisters leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 Cierra Sisters.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 74% · 2020 58% · 2021 71% · 2022 57% · 2023 64% — 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
25% of Cierra Sisters's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
69% of Cierra Sisters'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 $188k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $413k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Cierra Sisters holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 13,754 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,754 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Cierra Sisters
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
73% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Cierra Sisters: 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 Cierra Sisters?
- Cierra Sisters (Washington) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $600,975 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($204,051). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Cierra Sisters have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $600,975 in grants to Cierra Sisters, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Cierra Sisters?
- SEATTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $204,051 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Cierra Sisters find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Cierra Sisters →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), 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