California · Nonprofit
FIRE SAFE SONOMA
FIRE SAFE SONOMA (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $733,490 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA FIRE SAFE COUNCIL INC ($490,570). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $840k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $733k
- Net assets
- $616k
What Fire Safe Sonoma does
Mission
Public benefit, fire prevention & education
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Safer west sonoma (swc)fuels redutction. This is a 3yr grant funded by cal fire, which included the purchase of 4 chippers, a home inspection and $1000 homeowner rebate program to pay for defensible space improvements. Local "how to" workshops on defensible space and home hardening without the cost of renting equipment or hiring companies.
$432,838 spent63% of program spendingResilient landscapes/habitat corridor- (rlc ii). A project to provide homeowners guidance how to properly landscape aroung their home, and maintain a fire safe environment. Program also includes hands on training modules for landscape contractors. Funded by sonoma county
$103,615 spent15% of program spendingDmmw:work with landowners, a professional forester, and an environmental engineer to develop a forest stewardship plan, as a step toward future funding to provide vegetation management projects in the area. Funded by cal fire
$89,939 spent13% of program spendingWild fire safety expo. In partnership with community emergency response team we staged a wildfire safety expo to bring public awareness to wildfire safety & emergency procedures. Held at sonoma county fairgrounds, with expected attendance of 4000.
$43,395 spent6% of program spendingFirewise. Work with local residents and volunteers to develop plans for vegetation removal in critical fire areas. Work with homeowners on establishing defensible space around homes. Provide counseling and fire safety assessments to homeowners to enhance wildfire prevention and resilience
$11,399 spent2% of program spendingGmrs radio project. In partnership with sonoma county ems supports emergeny communications.
$5,340 spent1% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $686,526.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $431k to $948k (+120%).
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: 2022 44% · 2023 50% · 2024 13% · 2025 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of FIRE SAFE SONOMA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (74% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Ariel Kelly
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $19k → $115k.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 FIRE SAFE SONOMA’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
FIRE SAFE SONOMA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 FIRE SAFE SONOMA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 88% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of FIRE SAFE SONOMA's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $74k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
FIRE SAFE SONOMA has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,208 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,208 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FIRE SAFE SONOMA
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 FIRE SAFE SONOMA: 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 FIRE SAFE SONOMA?
- FIRE SAFE SONOMA (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $733,490 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA FIRE SAFE COUNCIL INC ($490,570). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRE SAFE SONOMA have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $733,490 in grants to FIRE SAFE SONOMA, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRE SAFE SONOMA?
- CALIFORNIA FIRE SAFE COUNCIL INC is the largest funder on record, with $490,570 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRE SAFE SONOMA 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 Fire Safe Sonoma →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 5 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