California · Nonprofit
EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION
EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 116 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,780,528 to it, the largest being THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ($780,000). 74 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $28M
- Funders on record
- 116
- Grants received
- $6.8M
- Net assets
- $43M
What Exceptional Children's Foundation does
Mission
The mission of Exceptional Children's Foundation (ecf) is to provide the highest quality services for children and adults who are challenged with developmental, learning, and emotional disabilities - empowering them to reach their greatest potential.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Kayne eras center - ecf's kayne eras center operates a k-12 nonpublic school that provides special education services for students with learning, emotional and developmental disabilities. Kecs educational approach includes intensive specialized programming and innovative educational strategies to meet the unique needs of each child and his or her family. Each year ecf also provides an array of therapeutic services, including comprehensive mental health services, to approximately 200 at risk youth (and their families) to improve their well being and help them succeed in school and community settings.
$7,129,738 spent31% of program spendingEarly start program - ecf's early start program provides home and center-based early intervention and educational services for families who have children with developmental delays or disabilities. Each year the program serves more than 1,000 children aged birth to three who may be challenged with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, speech and language impairments, traumatic brain injuries, or other disabilities/delays. From sites in arleta and south los angeles, early start provides early childhood education services in community center settings and via home visits. Both offer opportunities to enhance child development while also providing critical support and assistance to approximately 1,000 family members annually.
$4,154,989 spent18% of program spendingResidential services program - ecf's residential services program provides a variety of living arrangements coupled with in-home living skills training and support services for 60 participants, the majority of whom have a diagnosis of mild to moderate intellectual disability. In addition to providing safe and comfortable housing at six locations in los angeles county, the primary goal of the program is to foster the highest level of independence through full and proactive home and community involvement.
$4,255,272 spent$227,761 earned by the program19% of program spendingCommunity fusion - the community fusion program serves adults who have moderate to profound developmental disabilities. Approximately 50% have a high need for assistance with their daily living activities. The full-day community fusion program offers participants training in self-help, aiming to increase their vocational, recreational, and social skills. Clients also participate in health and fitness activities, which are specifically geared to aging adults and senior citizens with special needs. Activities include experiences such as trips to the grocery store, community art fairs, the park, and participation in a range of volunteer opportunities.exceptional community connections - exceptional community connections provide clients with opportunities to participate in meaningful community-based services and volunteer activities. Partnerships and collaborative projects are in place with businesses and community service organizations in inglewood, culver city and west los angeles, where clients play a valued role while developing social skills and relationships with individuals and community-based organizations.art centers - with studios in inglewood, san pedro, whittier and south…
$7,364,034 spent$145,120 earned by the program32% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $22,904,033.
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. 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 2022 to 2023, from $44M to $50M (+12%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 73% · 2018 71% · 2019 74% · 2020 78% · 2021 76% · 2022 75% · 2023 62% · 2024 88% · 2025 85%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
90% of EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Veronica Arteaga
President/CEO
Board chair
Shelley I Smith Esq
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 40 funders to 45 funders, grant income rose $592k → $1.0M.
11 of 116 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 116 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
EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 12% 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
45% 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 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 22% · 2019 22% · 2020 12% · 2021 12% · 2022 15% · 2023 42% — 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.
How long its funders stay
40% of EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
87% of EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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
EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 40 funders to 45 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.8M on record.
- General Services Administration$2.8M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S 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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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
- Whittier Springs · disregarded
- Westington · disregarded
- Valverde Inc · exempt
- Eras Home II · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S 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 EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION?
- EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 116 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,780,528 to it, the largest being THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ($780,000). 74 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 116 organizations giving $6,780,528 in grants to EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION, 74 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION?
- THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $780,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN'S 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 Exceptional Children's →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 116 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