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California · Nonprofit

ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION

ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,955,501 to it, the largest being THE GODRIC FOUNDATION ($2,000,001). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$4.0M
Funders on record
40
Grants received
$8.0M
Net assets
$13M
25/40 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 81%
01What it does

What Elings Park Foundation does

Mission

Elings park makes santa barbara happier, healthier, smarter and more inspired through the arts, recreation and nature.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Elings park is the largest privately funded, public park in the united states. More than two times the size of disneyland, this 230-acre scenic park on the santa barbara mesa features sweeping views, picturesque oak groves and has been santa barbara's gathering place for recreation, arts, nature, and inspiration since 1985. Elings park is made possible by community donations and receives no regular government funding.

    $1,480,910 spent$931,260 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,480,910.

02The 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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.2M) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 100 ($5.9M)2018 Revenue 96 ($1.2M) Expenses 108 ($1.2M) Net assets 93 ($5.5M)2019 Revenue 84 ($1.0M) Expenses 116 ($1.3M) Net assets 92 ($5.4M)2020 Revenue 135 ($1.7M) Expenses 108 ($1.2M) Net assets 101 ($5.9M)2021 Revenue 304 ($3.8M) Expenses 152 ($1.7M) Net assets 138 ($8.1M)2022 Revenue 272 ($3.4M) Expenses 188 ($2.1M) Net assets 152 ($8.9M)2023 Revenue 387 ($4.8M) Expenses 164 ($1.8M) Net assets 199 ($12M)2024 Revenue 327 ($4.0M) Expenses 186 ($2.1M) Net assets 226 ($13M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (327)Expenses (186)Net assets (226)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $9.8M to $13M (+31%).

$6.0M
$5.7M
$5.6M
$6.3M
$8.5M
$9.8M
$13M
$14M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 7% · 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$107k
’17
−$33k
’18
−$282k
’19
$457k
’20
$2.0M
’21
$1.2M
’22
$2.9M
’23
$1.9M
’24
3.8
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.

Chief executive

Dean Noble

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1613111212182117
Joined·+1+3+2+1+6+3+3
No longer listed·4511007
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $38k → $1.4M.

8 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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

ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

33% 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 ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION.

25%
largest funder
57%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 49% · 2019 37% · 2020 80% · 2021 52% · 2022 29% · 2023 32% — 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

26% of ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

78% of ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.

MN
IL
WI
PA
CA
DE
TX

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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

Organizations like ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION

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

71% of spending goes to programs.

Program 71%Management 16%Fundraising 14%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

52%

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 ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION: 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 ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION?
ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,955,501 to it, the largest being THE GODRIC FOUNDATION ($2,000,001). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $7,955,501 in grants to ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION?
THE GODRIC FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,001 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like ELINGS PARK FOUNDATION 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 Elings Park →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 40 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing