California · Nonprofit
FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH
FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH (California) receives grants from 138 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,004,207 to it, the largest being TIPPING POINT COMMUNITY ($7,017,600). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $34M
- Funders on record
- 138
- Grants received
- $40M
- Net assets
- $11M
What First Place for Youth does
Mission
First Place for Youth (the organization") is a california nonprofit public benefit corporation, which was incorporated on july 20, 1999, to prevent poverty and homelessness among youth who "age out" of the foster care system by providing them with the resources and support required to make a successful transition to independent living. The organization provides services to youth ages 16 to 25, including young people who are currently in foster care, as well as those preparing to, or who recently have aged out of, the foster care system. The organization works to ensure youth have the opportunity to experience a safe and supported transition through a housing program, intensive employment services, an academic enrichment program, counseling, a youth community center, collaboration with other bay area agencies, and community education, enabling youth to gain the skills to live independently and succeed on their own.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
My first place, a transitional housing program, provides stability for current and former foster youth through safe, affordable housing, intensive case management, and advocacy and support services. Youth receive support with move-in costs, rent, food, self-reliance planning, life skills training, health and mental health advocacy, transportation assistance, and employment and education services. Steps to success is the education and employment program of my first place, providing current and former foster youth with intensive one-on-one counseling and support in completing their high school diploma or general educational development certificate, enrolling in college, securing financial aid, and tutoring. Steps to success also supports youth with employment assistance, career planning, and in building their workplace skills, including job search and job retention. The program is operating in six counties in california (alameda, contra costa, los angeles, san francisco, santa clara, and solano) and in the state of mississippi.
$23,554,941 spent$468,807 earned by the program88% of program spendingIndependent living skills program ("ilsp") and first foundation is offered to youth in san francisco and solano counties. Through ilsp, the organization provides a range of services, including education and employment assistance, career development, family finding and permanency services, life skills workshops and community events. First foundation is an educational support program that begins with high school sophomores who are willing to commit to the program through high school graduation. Throughout high school, the organization's staff members provide one-on-one support designed to help increase on-time high school graduation rates along with workshops on educational and social skills development.
$2,224,924 spent8% of program spendingThe goal of the my first place network is to create a group of providers across the country who use my first place to deliver strong outcomes for transition age youth and advocate for improved policies and support for these youth in their local communities and at the federal level. My first place provides affiliates in the network with deep technical assistance and support in the areas of program, fundraising and policy to implement the my first place model successfully.
$702,691 spent3% of program spendingYouth transitions partnership ("ytp") provides intensive case management, coaching and skill building to disconnected and vulnerable youth with the goal of preventing homelessness. Services include community-based case management, skill building classes, and round-the-clock coaching to support youth engagement and success in education, employment and in their living situation. Intervention strategies include specific skill building in the areas of emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance, as well as case coordination across the continuum of available services. Ytp serves youth throughout alameda county.
$406,493 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $26,889,049.
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 2020 to 2021, from $15M to $17M (+17%).
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 78% · 2018 70% · 2019 69% · 2020 72% · 2021 70% · 2022 73% · 2023 81% · 2024 76% · 2025 70%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (21% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Thomas Lee
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Nancy Heinen
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 30 funders to 56 funders, grant income rose $3.2M → $5.2M.
31 of 138 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 138 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
FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
50% 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 FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 26% · 2019 24% · 2020 21% · 2021 17% · 2022 13% · 2023 14% — diversifying over time.
“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
51% of FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
79% of FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,396 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,396 human services nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $158k on record.
- FEDERAL$158k
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 FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH
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
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: 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 FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH?
- FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH (California) receives grants from 138 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,004,207 to it, the largest being TIPPING POINT COMMUNITY ($7,017,600). 82 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH have?
- IRS filings report 138 organizations giving $40,004,207 in grants to FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH, 82 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH?
- TIPPING POINT COMMUNITY is the largest funder on record, with $7,017,600 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH 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 First Place for Youth →
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 138 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