California · Nonprofit
College is Real Inc
College is Real Inc (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,493,705 to it, the largest being MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($710,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What College is Real Inc does
Mission
Our mission is to change the college-going culture in Richmonds high schools in order to uplift the community by having more of its students, who are mostly low-income people of color, attend and be the first in their families to graduate from college.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In 2024-2025, College Is Real, Inc. (CIR) served over 450 high school students at Richmond's three public high schools (Richmond, De Anza and Kennedy) in Richmond, CA. Students are admitted to the CIR program after submitting an application, having an interview with the program director and meeting certain academic criteria. CIR's objective is to have a 100% high school graduation rate and 90-100% of its members accepted to four-year colleges. CIR provides academic counseling, after-school tutoring and study hall throughout the school year. CIR pays for SAT and ACT testing registration and college applications for those students who don't otherwise have sufficient personal or government funding. CIR provides college tours for its students as well as site visits to local companies. CIR also organizes and sponsors various community service activities for its members in order to give them the opportunity to "Give Back" to the community while helping strengthen their college applications. CIR awards scholarships to its graduating seniors depending upon which university or college they are attending. The scholarships typically average $2,000 per student and are awarded at the annual…
$1,180,371 spentof which $624,898 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,180,371.
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 2022 to 2023, from $687k to $1.1M (+60%).
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: 2021 18% · 2022 5% · 2023 26% · 2024 32% · 2025 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
102% of College is Real Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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 6 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $100k → $531k.
12 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 College is Real 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
College is Real Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
55% 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 College is Real Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 32% · 2019 22% · 2020 27% · 2021 51% · 2022 40% · 2023 47% — growing more concentrated.
“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
44% of College is Real Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
80% of College is Real Inc's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
College is Real Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding College is Real Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $865k on record.
- Department of Education$865k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like College is Real 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for College is Real 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.
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 College is Real Inc?
- College is Real Inc (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,493,705 to it, the largest being MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($710,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does College is Real Inc have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $3,493,705 in grants to College is Real Inc, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of College is Real Inc?
- MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $710,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like College is Real 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 College is Real →
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 28 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