California · Nonprofit
COLLEGE OPTIONS INC
COLLEGE OPTIONS INC (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,367,343 to it, the largest being The McConnell Foundation ($4,641,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $5.4M
- Net assets
- $178k
What College Options Inc does
Mission
The specific purpose of this corporation is to increase the rate of students in shasta, siskiyou, trinity, and modoc counites of california pursuing and succeeding in post-secondary education and to carry on other chartiable activities with this goal as allowed by law.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The specific purpose of this corporation is to increase the rate of students in shasta, siskiyou, trinity, and modoc counites of california pursuing and succeeding in post-secondary education and to carry on other chartiable activities with this goal as allowed by law.
$1,897,373 spent100% of program spendingThe specific purpose of this corporation is to increase the rate of students in shasta, siskiyou, trinity, and modoc counites of california pursuing and succeeding in post-secondary education and to carry on other chartiable activities with this goal as allowed by law.
$5,486 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,902,859.
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 2017 to 2018, from $181k to $523k (+190%).
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 100% · 2022 52% · 2023 31% · 2024 23% · 2025 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of COLLEGE OPTIONS 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. 4 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
Lianne Richelieu-Boren
CEO
Board chair
Jake Mangas
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $711k → $525k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 OPTIONS 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 OPTIONS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 86% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 100% · 2019 97% · 2020 95% · 2021 80% · 2022 79% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
87% of COLLEGE OPTIONS 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. $19k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 OPTIONS INC has grown faster 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
Organizations like COLLEGE OPTIONS 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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COLLEGE OPTIONS 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 OPTIONS INC?
- COLLEGE OPTIONS INC (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,367,343 to it, the largest being The McConnell Foundation ($4,641,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COLLEGE OPTIONS INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $5,367,343 in grants to COLLEGE OPTIONS INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLLEGE OPTIONS INC?
- The McConnell Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $4,641,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLLEGE OPTIONS 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 Options →
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 5 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