California · Nonprofit
FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION
FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,742,251 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($10,052,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.8M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $29M
- Net assets
- $17M
What Firelight Foundation does
Mission
Firelight supports catalytic community-based organizations in eastern and southern africa that work with their own communities to realize shared visions of sustainable change and true potential for children and youth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Child rights and child protectionfirelight funded and supported 10 community-based organizations in malawi to catalyze and strengthen community-driven systems change to end child marriage in their communities. Grantees facilitated their communities to analyze and take action to influence the different systems that affect factors related to child marriage, such as family economic security, girls' access to schooling, teenage pregnancy, norms and practices around sexuality, access to sexual and reproductive health, and expanding girls' own visioning of their future opportunities. Firelight also funded and supported seven (7) youth-led organizations in kenya to work with their communities to identify the priority issues facing youth in their community and carry out action plans to address those issues such as increasing youth access to gainful employment and greater incomes through vocational training, reducing widespread drug and substance abuse issues through awareness-raising efforts, connecting youth to community mentors, and supporting youth to adapt to climate change.
$1,595,449 spentof which $718,323 as grants67% of program spendingChildhood development and educationfirelight funded and supported nine (9) community-based organizations in rural zambia and in malawi to improve early childhood environments and outcomes in their communities. Grantees facilitated their communities to map out and take action to influence the different systems and stakeholders that affect child wellbeing such as family economic security, parenting skills, access to a variety of nutritious foods, quality of care and education in early childhood centers, child protection systems, beliefs and norms, and government policy.
$722,593 spentof which $284,385 as grants30% of program spendingFirelight funded a senegal-based organization to survey african csos that have been directly or indirectly affected by the global funding freeze. The survey, which generated responses from 551 csos in 42 african countries, provided valuable insight on ways african csos have been affected by the funding freeze. The findings will help funders, policymakers and other stakeholders develop appropriate responses. Firelight also supported the partner organization to disseminate findings through a published report and webinar.
$52,000 spentof which $52,000 as grants2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,370,042.
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 2021 to 2022, from $8.3M to $18M (+111%).
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: 2021 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Marieme Daff
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 12 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $2.0M → $705k.
9 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 24 of 25 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
FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 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 FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 53% · 2019 58% · 2020 89% · 2021 69% · 2022 67% · 2023 80% — 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
39% of FIRELIGHT 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
58% of FIRELIGHT 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. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 718 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 718 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FIRELIGHT 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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 FIRELIGHT 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 FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION?
- FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,742,251 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($10,052,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $28,742,251 in grants to FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $10,052,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRELIGHT 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 Firelight →
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 25 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