California · Nonprofit
CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN
CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $397,142 to it, the largest being Social Impact Fund ($100,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $30M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $397k
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What Connections for Children does
Mission
Connections for Children's mission is to build a stronger future for children, families, and the early care and education community by connecting them to resources, education, and economic support.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Subsidy programs - Connections for Children administers subsidyprograms to assist low-income families in our communities, includingthose moving from welfare to work, to achieve financial independence.partial or full payment towards child care enables parents to work,attend school or receive job training with the assurance that theirchildren, up to age 12, are in the child care arrangement that bestsuits their family needs. Parents may choose care in licensed centers,family child care homes, or with relatives, friends, or neighbors. Ourprogram specialists work with each family to certify eligibility andmake arrangements to pay childcare providers for their services. 1,753families (2,829 children) received assistance with child care costs.
$21,021,744 spent$9,152 earned by the program73% of program spendingSanta monica program - Connections for Children provides a variety ofservices to residents of santa monica under a contract with the city'shuman services division. Staff worked with 465 families to provide child care referrals for child care programs in santa monica that meet their needs. The program provided financial assistance for 247 santa monica children from 186 low-income families to attend child care programs within the city. Weekly early learning play groups were conducted for a total of 231 children and 188 adults, including parents, other relatives, and caregivers.
$1,480,383 spent5% of program spendingQuality start - this program provides training and coaching services toassist child care providers with the skills to build expertise in bestpractices for child care. It provides one to one mentoring andtechnical assistance to child care professionals and early childhoodeducators. Professional development coaches worked with 253 teachersand administrative staff across 153 center-based programs and familychildcare homes to provide 836 customized coaching hours.
$601,983 spent2% of program spendingOther child care programs consists of: (a) emergency child care bridgeprogram provided enhanced referrals and child care subsidies to 75families to support 80 children in the foster care system. (b) preventive health and safety programs facilitated 13 trainings, for a total of 80 hours - 120 participants attended. C) resource and referral program helped 10,526 parents/caregivers receive child care information and referrals. D)Connections for Children facilitated 92 early care and education professional development trainings for a total of 265 hours -174 participants attended.
$5,591,347 spent$7,629 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $28,695,457.
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 2023 to 2024, from $6.4M to $10M (+57%).
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: 2017 88% · 2018 90% · 2019 88% · 2020 99% · 2021 97% · 2022 99% · 2023 99% · 2024 99% · 2025 99%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Jennifer Cowan
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $3k → $42k.
6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 17 of 19 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
CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN leans on a few funders — its largest provides 25% 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
89% 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 CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 95% · 2019 76% · 2020 75% · 2021 98% · 2022 96% · 2023 60% — 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
29% of CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
68% of CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN'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 $128k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $270k 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.
Against its field
CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN
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
96% 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 CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN: 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 CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN?
- CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN (California) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $397,142 to it, the largest being Social Impact Fund ($100,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $397,142 in grants to CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN?
- Social Impact Fund is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CONNECTIONS FOR CHILDREN 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 Connections for Children →
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 19 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