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California · Nonprofit

Desert Forum Inc

Desert Forum Inc (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $549,650 to it, the largest being HN and Frances C Berger Foundation ($400,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.

$1.6M
Revenue FY2025
6
Funders on record
$550k
Grants received
$1.7M
Net assets
2/6 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year

Against its field

Desert Forum Inc's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.

Operating margin−20% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve5.5mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 432 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Three funders worth looking at

Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.

See all 12 prospects and why each one surfaced →
01The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.7M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets 100 ($1.0M)2018 Revenue 101 ($1.7M) Expenses 99 ($1.4M) Net assets 128 ($1.3M)2019 Revenue 103 ($1.7M) Expenses 92 ($1.3M) Net assets 170 ($1.7M)2020 Revenue 55 ($933k) Expenses 69 ($1.0M) Net assets 168 ($1.7M)2021 Revenue 5 ($83k) Expenses 23 ($336k) Net assets 171 ($1.7M)2022 Revenue 98 ($1.7M) Expenses 107 ($1.6M) Net assets 163 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 89 ($1.5M) Expenses 110 ($1.6M) Net assets 161 ($1.6M)2024 Revenue 93 ($1.6M) Expenses 107 ($1.6M) Net assets 183 ($1.8M)2025 Revenue 93 ($1.6M) Expenses 129 ($1.9M) Net assets 165 ($1.7M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (93)Expenses (129)Net assets (165)Peer revenue range

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 3% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 4% · 2022 2% · 2023 2% · 2024 2% · 2025 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

48% of Desert Forum Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,088 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$238k
17
$264k
18
$401k
19
$74k
20
$253k
21
$104k
22
$101k
23
$23k
24
$310k
25
5.5
months of
reserve
02Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $25k → $120k.

1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF)2% 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 Desert Forum 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

Desert Forum Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

73%
largest funder
97%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 97% · 2019 67% · 2021 81% · 2022 83% · 2023 83%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

97% of Desert Forum Inc's grant income comes from California funders.

NY
CA
MO

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

17
18
19
21
22
23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 stateis 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.

03Its place in the field

Funders to approach

Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 6 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.

From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.

Organizations like Desert Forum Inc

Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In California

Nationally

04Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 14%Fundraising 1%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
Conflict-of-interest policyWhistleblower policyDocument retentionBoard reviewed the 990Audited 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 Desert Forum 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds Desert Forum Inc?
Desert Forum Inc (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $549,650 to it, the largest being HN and Frances C Berger Foundation ($400,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Desert Forum Inc have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $549,650 in grants to Desert Forum Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Desert Forum Inc?
HN and Frances C Berger Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Desert Forum 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.

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 6funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing