California · Nonprofit
College of the Desert Foundation
College of the Desert Foundation (California) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,771,030 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($18,000,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $7.8M
- Funders on record
- 75
- Grants received
- $24M
- Net assets
- $69M
What College of the Desert Foundation does
Mission
The mission of the College of the Desert Foundation is to enhance the quality of education by advancing the College of the Desert through building relationships, securing philanthropic support and stewarding assets.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
To provide programmatic funding to College of the Desert and educational scholarships for College of the Desert students.
$2,897,045 spentof which $1,243,727 as grants86% of program spendingThe EDGE/plEDGE initiative represents a powerful commitment to the educational and economic future of regional students, the college, and the community. During the 2024-2025 academic year, plEDGE programs provided tuition-free education with textbook support for students from underserved populations at the college. The funding is used to provide plEDGE last-dollar tuition and fee scholarships, and textbook support to promote retention and success and economic improvement for underserved Coachella Valley student populations.Many of the underrepresented students served by the College and Foundation are already Pell and California College Promise Grant eligible. While these programs can offset most of the cost for postsecondary education at the college, the student must cover residual costs. In some cases, the remaining costs become a barrier to full-time postsecondary education. The plEDGE support removes that barrier by providing enough funding to offset residual costs for each student.The Foundation's and College's commitment to EDGE/plEDGE program is part of a collaborative effort to close the education gap in our service area, promote postsecondary education equity in our…
$462,583 spentof which $462,583 as grants14% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,359,628.
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 2020 to 2021, from $33M to $55M (+65%).
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 90% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
37% of College of the Desert Foundation’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Catherine Wilkinson Abbott
Executive Director
Board chair
Diane Rubin
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 22 funders to 27 funders, grant income fell $853k → $597k.
20 of 75 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 82% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $400k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Eisenhower Medical Center). These are real filings, and they are not money College of the Desert Foundation raised.
From the IRS filings of College of the Desert Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 75 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
College of the Desert Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
84% 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 of the Desert Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 29% · 2018 21% · 2019 31% · 2020 31% · 2021 96% · 2022 38% · 2023 33% — 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
39% of College of the Desert Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
82% of College of the Desert Foundation'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 $4.3M that is directly attributable, 60% of it comes from funders outside California, across 15 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $19M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 of the Desert Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like College of the Desert Foundation
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
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 of the Desert Foundation: 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 of the Desert Foundation?
- College of the Desert Foundation (California) receives grants from 75 organizations whose IRS filings report $23,771,030 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($18,000,000). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 82% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does College of the Desert Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 75 organizations giving $23,771,030 in grants to College of the Desert Foundation, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of College of the Desert Foundation?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $18,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like College of the Desert Foundation 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 75 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing