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California · Nonprofit

CITY OF DREAMS

CITY OF DREAMS (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $944,415 to it, the largest being CRANKSTART FOUNDATION ($300,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$694k
Funders on record
30
Grants received
$944k
Net assets
$311k
7/30 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 62%
01What it does

What City of Dreams does

Mission

City of Dreams mission is to help the youth living in san francisco's public housing communities build bright futures through mentorship and youth development.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Mentorship and development - this program provides weekly mentorship and development opportunities for underserved youth, focusing on building life skills, fostering personal growth, and encouraging community engagement. During the reporting period, an estimated 50 youth participated in over 40 structured sessions, including workshops, team-building activities, and one-on-one mentoring. The program's objective is to help youth develop confidence, resilience, and leadership skills, with the long-term goal of empowering them to achieve academic and personal success.

    $141,561 spent
    39% of program spending
  2. Ground zero - teen - the ground zero program provides foundational support for underserved youth by offering a safe space to develop critical life skills and build strong community connections. During the reporting period, approximately 30 youth participated in over 35 sessions, which included skill-building workshops, mentorship activities, and community service projects. The program's short-term goal is to engage youth in meaningful activities that foster personal development, while the long-term objective is to equip them with the tools and confidence needed to create positive life trajectories.

    $100,217 spent
    28% of program spending
  3. Gardening and wellness - the gardening and wellness program empowers youth by providing opportunities to gain practical skills, financial literacy, and work experience. Participants earn incentives while engaging in hands-on horticulture projects, fostering sustainability, responsibility, confidence, and pathways to healthier lives.

    $43,078 spent
    12% of program spending
  4. Other programs - general programs, community learning hub and summer together.

    $74,008 spentof which $1,400 as grants
    21% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $358,864.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($96k) Expenses 100 ($94k) Net assets 100 ($31k)2019 Revenue 118 ($113k) Expenses 121 ($114k) Net assets 98 ($30k)2020 Revenue 563 ($538k) Expenses 277 ($260k) Net assets 1004 ($307k)2021 Revenue 838 ($801k) Expenses 658 ($618k) Net assets 1690 ($517k)2022 Revenue 484 ($463k) Expenses 687 ($645k) Net assets 1094 ($334k)2023 Revenue 542 ($518k) Expenses 620 ($582k) Net assets 885 ($271k)2024 Revenue 726 ($694k) Expenses 696 ($654k) Net assets 1017 ($311k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (726)Expenses (696)Net assets (1017)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 $30k to $307k (+925%).

$31k
$30k
$307k
$521k
$361k
$275k
$315k
2018201920202021202220232024
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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 26% · 2022 71% · 2023 48% · 2024 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of CITY OF DREAMS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 6,387 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$2k
’18
−$621
’19
$278k
’20
$183k
’21
−$181k
’22
−$64k
’23
$40k
’24
2.9
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

Jarae Clark

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

20202021202220232024
Listed1015121212
Joined·+8+1+4+4
No longer listed·3444
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $8k → $84k.

8 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 CITY OF DREAMS’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

CITY OF DREAMS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

64% 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 CITY OF DREAMS.

32%
largest funder
55%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2019 58% · 2020 53% · 2021 60% · 2022 51% · 2023 42% — 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

36% of CITY OF DREAMS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 23% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

81% of CITY OF DREAMS's grant income comes from California funders.

NY
MA
CA
CO
MD
DE
NC

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

’17
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $251k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CITY OF DREAMS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,688 youth development nonprofits its size.

Operating margin6% · above the median
Months of reserve2.9mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)39% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,688 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like CITY OF DREAMS

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

76% of spending goes to programs.

Program 76%Management 16%Fundraising 8%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

91%

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 CITY OF DREAMS: 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 CITY OF DREAMS?
CITY OF DREAMS (California) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $944,415 to it, the largest being CRANKSTART FOUNDATION ($300,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CITY OF DREAMS have?
IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $944,415 in grants to CITY OF DREAMS, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CITY OF DREAMS?
CRANKSTART FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CITY OF DREAMS 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 City of Dreams →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 30 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