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
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
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 grants85% of program spendingEbell 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 grants15% of program spendingEbell scholarship - educational endowment. Funding provided to grow the endowment, which grants scholarship funding to over 50 college bound students each year.
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.
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.
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%).
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 EBELL FRIENDS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Frances Varga
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
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.
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.
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.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Against its field
EBELL FRIENDS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
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.
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