California · Nonprofit
FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC
FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC (California) receives grants from 203 organizations whose IRS filings report $78,869,809 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($16,977,488). 91 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $46M
- Funders on record
- 203
- Grants received
- $79M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Focusing Philanthropy Inc does
Mission
Focusing philanthropy believes extraordinary impact is possible if we focus on root causes, maximize leverage, act on solid information, and pool our efforts. We believe donations should be made with the same level of strategic intent, information, and confidence as other investments. That is why we target serious human challenges that individual donors can successfully address; choose tactics that are demonstrably effective; identify confidence-inspiring implementing partners; conduct ongoing monitoring; and assure substantive reporting.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
We worked with various nonprofits to refine initiatives (and associated budgets, timetables and intended outcomes). We developed and presented giving opportunities, often through collaborative fundraising appeals. We monitored our beneficiary organizations and programs on a continuous basis. Among a range of other interactions and analyses, our monitoring involved field visits to program sites of each domestically-oriented nonprofit we support during the year to observe program activity and meet with non-profit leaders. This extensive and continuous monitoring enables us to exercise judgement regarding what programs to support.
$36,371,566 spentof which $35,812,370 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $36,371,566.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2024 to 2025, from $6.0M to $14M (+140%).
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.
99% of FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Francis Beadle
CEO
Board chair
Lawrence Gilson
Chairman/director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 63 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $14M.
52 of 203 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 203 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
FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
77% 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 FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 30% · 2019 28% · 2020 26% · 2021 12% · 2022 30% · 2023 22% — 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.
How long its funders stay
31% of FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
75% of FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $19M that is directly attributable, 68% of it comes from funders outside California, across 31 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $59M arriving through sponsors registered in 23 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
FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 490 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC
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
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC: 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 FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC?
- FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC (California) receives grants from 203 organizations whose IRS filings report $78,869,809 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($16,977,488). 91 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC have?
- IRS filings report 203 organizations giving $78,869,809 in grants to FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC, 91 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $16,977,488 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOCUSING PHILANTHROPY INC 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 203 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