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California · Nonprofit

EBELL FRIENDS

EBELL FRIENDS (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $610,293 to it, the largest being THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ($300,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$328k
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$610k
Net assets
$138k
8/10 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Ebell Friends does

Mission

Ebell Friends charitable purpose is to provide support for the preservation, restoration and maintenance of the historic ebell of los angeles' campus, grounds, collections and the wilshire ebell theatre; as well as for the philanthropic work of the ebell of los angeles through its rest cottage association and the ebell scholarship program and programs which educate and serve the community.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Ebell of los angeles - general operations, maintenance, building and theatre improvements: these program expenses support all of the ebell of los angeles' annual programs at the los angeles campus. Estimated number of events incudes theatre performances, cultural and civic programs, over 100,000 public visitors over the year. $150,000 of this expense go to long term theatre equipment.

    $316,485 spentof which $270,813 as grants
    85% of program spending
  2. Ebell of los angeles - public programing: these expenses support the youth theatre programing of women's history and programing for the ebell institute for the study of women's history in los angeles. Funding supported the free student matinee program for over 4,000 los angeles school children, and the study of women's history and an educational symposium. All programing is open to the public for no cost.

    $55,899 spentof which $52,950 as grants
    15% of program spending
  3. Ebell scholarship - educational endowment. Funding provided to grow the endowment, which grants scholarship funding to over 50 college bound students each year.

  4. Ebell rest cottage association - philanthropic charitable endowment. Funding provided to grow the endowment, which grants funds annually to local los angeles non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting and aiding in-need women and children in los angeles county.

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $372,384.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($111k) Expenses 100 ($25k) Net assets 100 ($87k)2020 Revenue 17 ($19k) Expenses 141 ($35k) Net assets 82 ($71k)2021 Revenue 89 ($99k) Expenses 70 ($17k) Net assets 176 ($153k)2022 Revenue 23 ($25k) Expenses 364 ($89k) Net assets 102 ($88k)2023 Revenue 49 ($55k) Expenses 5 ($1k) Net assets 164 ($142k)2024 Revenue 287 ($320k) Expenses 1103 ($271k) Net assets 220 ($191k)2025 Revenue 295 ($328k) Expenses 1552 ($381k) Net assets 159 ($138k)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (295)Expenses (1552)Net assets (159)Peer revenue range

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 $71k to $153k (+115%).

$87k
$71k
$153k
$88k
$142k
$191k
$138k
2019202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of EBELL FRIENDS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,618 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$87k
’19
−$16k
’20
$82k
’21
−$64k
’22
$53k
’23
$49k
’24
−$53k
’25
4.3
months of
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

Frances Varga

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20242025
Listed99
Joined·+1
No longer listed·1
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $36k → $207k.

4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 EBELL FRIENDS’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

EBELL FRIENDS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

26% 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 EBELL FRIENDS.

49%
largest funder
76%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 84% · 2021 76% · 2022 45% · 2023 72% — 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

25% of EBELL FRIENDS's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 80% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

88% of EBELL FRIENDS's grant income comes from California funders.

NV
CA
DC

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $96k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

EBELL FRIENDS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−16% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve4.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)20% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like EBELL FRIENDS

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

98% of spending goes to programs.

Program 98%Management 2%Fundraising 0%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

50%

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

Part of a family of 4 related entities

  • Ebell of Los Angeles · exempt
  • Ebell of Los Angeles Rest Cottage Association · exempt
  • Ebell of Los Angeles Scholarship Endowment Fund · exempt
  • The Mr and Mrs Charles N Flint Scholarship Endowment Fund · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EBELL FRIENDS: 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.

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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 EBELL FRIENDS?
EBELL FRIENDS (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $610,293 to it, the largest being THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ($300,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does EBELL FRIENDS have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $610,293 in grants to EBELL FRIENDS, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of EBELL FRIENDS?
THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like EBELL FRIENDS 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 10 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