California · Nonprofit
EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION
EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,633,298 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($878,063). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.5M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Embarcadero Media Foundation does
Mission
Embarcadero Media Foundation seeks to enhance the quality of life and public engagement in the san francisco bay area by supporting accurate and professional local news coverage of the region, making grants to nonprofit organizations providing needed social & human services to the community; increased in-depth and investigative reporting; conducting public educational events and forums on local issues; and litigating against agencies that are not complying with california's public records act and open meeting laws.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
On January 1, 2024, Embarcadero Media, Inc., a for-profit corporation, donated certain business assets and transferred related liabilities to the Embarcadero Media Foundaion. The donation included business operations for several local news sites which the Foundation began operating on January 1, 2024, as it's Community Journalism Program.The Community Journalism program encompasses three printed weekly newspapers and seven local websites covering the Mid-Peninsula and East Bays Tri-Valley. The primary goals are to support professional local news coverage, build community through events and promotion of local businesses, keep the community informed with investigative reporting, and hold the government accountable.The Embarcadero Media Foundationss printed weekly newspapers include the Palo Alto Weekly, Almanac, and Pleasanton Weekly. Online news websites include the Palo Alto Online, Almanac Online, Mountain View Voice, Redwood City Pulse, Pleasanton Online, DanvilleSanRamon.com, and Livermore Vine.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
The Embarcadero Media Foundations Community Journalism program encompasses three printed weekly newspapers and seven local websites covering the Mid-Peninsula and East Bays Tri-Valley. The primary goals are to support professional local news coverage, build community through events and promotion of local business, keep the community informed with investigative reporting, and hold the government accountable.The Embarcadero Media Foundationss printed weekly newspapers include the Palo Alto Weekly, Almanac, and Pleasanton Weekly. Online news websites include the Palo Alto Online, Almanac Online, Mountain View Voice, Redwood City Pulse, Pleasanton Online, DanvilleSanRamon.com, and Livermore Vine.
$4,026,014 spent$4,220,849 earned by the program79% of program spendingThe Embarcadero Media Foundations Holiday Fund is a group of annual three-month long campaigns hosted by The Foundation to support local nonprofit organizations serving families and children in the San Francisco Bay Area communities of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redwood City and Pleasanton. The public campaign raises money from individuals, family, foundations and other organizations, then makes grants to local nonprofits. One hundred percent of donation proceeds to the Holiday Funds are distributed to grantees as determined by a grant committee. The campaign raises most of its funds between October and January. Grants awarded support a wide variety of agencies and programs that provide services to children and families in our region, ranging from services for the homeless, tutoring and child care programs, educational enrichment or remedial programs, mental health counseling services, cultural and arts programs, summer camp programs and scholarships for graduating high school students needing financial assistance to continue their education at community or four-year colleges.
$1,100,210 spentof which $1,100,210 as grants$1,412,869 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,126,224.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2023 to 2024, from $1.4M to $3.9M (+184%).
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.
55% of EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 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
William Johnson
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base held at 6 funders, grant income fell $240k → $92k.
11 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION’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
EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 42% · 2023 47% — 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
81% of EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION'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 $504k that is directly attributable, 90% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like EMBARCADERO MEDIA 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 1 related entity
- Embarcadero Media Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EMBARCADERO MEDIA 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.
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 EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION?
- EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,633,298 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($878,063). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,633,298 in grants to EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EMBARCADERO MEDIA FOUNDATION?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $878,063 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EMBARCADERO MEDIA 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), and the filings of 26 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