California · Nonprofit
FAMILIES FORWARD
FAMILIES FORWARD (California) receives grants from 154 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,208,667 to it, the largest being CHIA FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($2,076,500). 83 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 154
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $30M
What Families Forward does
Mission
The mission of Families Forward is to prevent and end family homelessness by providing access to housing and resources that create lasting stability. In fy25, we provided housing, food, and supportive services to more than 17,836 unduplicated individuals.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Families Forward housing program offers housing and supportive services to families at risk of or experiencing homelessness, giving families stability and the opportunity to thrive. Our housing program provides families with a wide range of housing solutions, including homeless prevention services, emergency motel stays, interim housing, rapid rehousing, rental assistance, and affordable housing opportunities. Personalized supportive services include career coaching, mental health counseling, financial literacy, case management, and housing navigation. Families Forward prevented or ended homelessness for 671 families (2,289 children and their parents). During the same time, 95% of graduating families remained stably housed one year after completing its housing program.
$8,720,285 spentof which $2,814,809 as grants$1,240,763 earned by the program90% of program spendingFamilies Forward provides comprehensive community services including food assistance, seasonal programs, and linkages to community services. The food pantry distributed 418,357 meals to families, adults, and seniors throughout orange county. Backpacks filled with school supplies were distributed to 798 local school children. For thanksgiving, 1,066 families received donated food to make a cherished holiday dinner. In the holiday wish program, 2,410 children received gifts through the generosity of the community.
$968,921 spentof which $273,893 as grants$137,863 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,689,206.
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.
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 $16M to $27M (+65%).
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 33% · 2018 19% · 2019 30% · 2020 40% · 2021 33% · 2022 58% · 2023 50% · 2024 45% · 2025 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Hirneise Madelynn
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020, and between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $728k → $2.0M.
23 of 154 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 FAMILIES FORWARD’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 154 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
FAMILIES FORWARD has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% 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
55% 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 FAMILIES FORWARD.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 17% · 2019 13% · 2020 12% · 2021 54% · 2022 16% · 2023 26% — 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
38% of FAMILIES FORWARD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
62% of FAMILIES FORWARD's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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.
Government funding FAMILIES FORWARD receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.6M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$5.6M
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 FAMILIES FORWARD
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FAMILIES FORWARD: 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 FAMILIES FORWARD?
- FAMILIES FORWARD (California) receives grants from 154 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,208,667 to it, the largest being CHIA FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($2,076,500). 83 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FAMILIES FORWARD have?
- IRS filings report 154 organizations giving $15,208,667 in grants to FAMILIES FORWARD, 83 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FAMILIES FORWARD?
- CHIA FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,076,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FAMILIES FORWARD 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 Families Forward →
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 154 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