California · Nonprofit
DIRECT RELIEF
DIRECT RELIEF (California) receives grants from 1386 organizations whose IRS filings report $357,043,216 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($54,690,980). 622 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4B
- Funders on record
- 1,386
- Grants received
- $357M
- Net assets
- $1.2B
What Direct Relief does
Mission
Direct Relief is a humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies - without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community health - Direct Relief, through its community health initiatives, equips health professionals in low-resource settings with the medical resources they need to diagnose, treat, and care for their patients - regardless of ability to pay. In the fiscal year 2025, Direct Relief provided material and financial support to more than 2,600 community health providers in 92 countries. This includes the u.s., where Direct Relief operates the nation's largest charitable medicine program for community health centers and nonprofit clinics in all 50 states. As a result of Direct Relief's support, organizations and health providers can focus their time and resources on expanding and improving their services instead of procuring medicine and supplies.
$1,090,004,523 spentof which $93,676,644 as grants48% of program spendingDisaster response - Direct Relief, through its disaster response programs, addresses the needs of vulnerable communities before disasters strike by pre positioning emergency medical materials with healthcare facilities in areas at risk from natural disasters. When disasters occur, Direct Relief leverages its network of healthcare providers to assess immediate needs, understand the situation, and respond quickly and precisely. Direct Relief's efforts are alwaysin response to specific requests from local partners and in accordance with national and international responders to avoid duplication of efforts and prevent logistical bottlenecks, and ensure the most efficient use of resources.
$616,715,388 spentof which $504,416,510 as grants27% of program spendingDisease prevention and treatment - to alleviate the disease burden in providers to assess immediate needs, understand the situation, and respond quickly and precisely. Direct Relief's efforts are always in response to specific requests from local partners and in accordance with national and international responders to avoid duplication of efforts and prevent logistical bottlenecks, and ensure the most efficient use of resources.resource constrained communities around the world, Direct Relief supports a global network of locally-run health facilities with the medicines, medical supplies, and funding. In the fiscal year 2025, Direct Relief provided healthcare partners in 60 countries with 34 million courses of medication to treat conditions that include cancer, diabetes, and rare diseases. Direct Relief also supports programs to advance breast cancer awareness and early detection, cervical cancer screening, as well as comprehensive diabetes prevention and treatment programs that include assistance for children with type 1 diabetes.
$579,744,636 spentof which $556,290,706 as grants25% of program spendingDirect Relief has an internal policy to transfer all board-designated unrestricted bequests and gifts to the board restricted investment fund (brif) held by Direct Relief foundation. The purpose of the brif is to provide a reserve for future operations.
$5,147,080 spentof which $847,766,357 as grants0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,291,611,627.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2019 to 2020, from $528M to $968M (+83%).
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.
100% of DIRECT RELIEF’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Mark Linehan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 295 funders to 416 funders, grant income rose $16M → $38M.
150 of 1386 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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: $47M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Direct Relief Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money DIRECT RELIEF raised.
From the IRS filings of DIRECT RELIEF’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 1386 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
DIRECT RELIEF has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
62% 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 DIRECT RELIEF.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 13% · 2018 17% · 2019 24% · 2020 8% · 2021 58% · 2022 14% · 2023 10% — 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
35% of DIRECT RELIEF's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
55% of DIRECT RELIEF'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 $162M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from funders outside California, across 47 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $195M arriving through sponsors registered in 39 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
DIRECT RELIEF runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 59 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 59 international nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Organizations like DIRECT RELIEF
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
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
48%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 35 states
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- Dr Property 1 LLC · disregarded
- Direct Relief Puerto Rico · disregarded
- Direct Relief Foundation · exempt
- Direct Relief International South Africa · exempt
- Direct Relief Mexico · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DIRECT RELIEF: 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 DIRECT RELIEF?
- DIRECT RELIEF (California) receives grants from 1386 organizations whose IRS filings report $357,043,216 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($54,690,980). 622 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DIRECT RELIEF have?
- IRS filings report 1386 organizations giving $357,043,216 in grants to DIRECT RELIEF, 622 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DIRECT RELIEF?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $54,690,980 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DIRECT RELIEF 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 2018–2025), and the filings of 1386 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