California · Nonprofit
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
FOOD FOR THOUGHT (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $302,770 to it, the largest being THE MARISLA FOUNDATION ($175,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
FOOD FOR THOUGHT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 15,926 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 15,926 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Sherwood Country Club Charitable Foundationlocal
- Community Alliance With Family Farmersportfolio match
- Ecology Centerportfolio match
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.
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.
100% of FOOD FOR THOUGHT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 4 funders, grant income rose $35k → $50k.
4 of 12 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 FOOD FOR THOUGHT’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
FOOD FOR THOUGHT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2019 71% · 2020 55% · 2021 99% · 2022 63% · 2023 70% — 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
40% of FOOD FOR THOUGHT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
98% of FOOD FOR THOUGHT's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $32k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 12 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Sherwood Country Club Charitable FoundationlocalCA · funds 52 organizations near you
- Community Alliance With Family Farmersportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Ecology Centerportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- California ReLeafportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Big Greenportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Rancho Santa Fe Garden Clubportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Tomkat Ranch Educational Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- UNFI Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Whole Foods Market Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Zero Foodprintportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Petit Teton Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Public support
0%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOOD FOR THOUGHT: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds FOOD FOR THOUGHT?
- FOOD FOR THOUGHT (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $302,770 to it, the largest being THE MARISLA FOUNDATION ($175,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOOD FOR THOUGHT have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $302,770 in grants to FOOD FOR THOUGHT, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOOD FOR THOUGHT?
- THE MARISLA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOOD FOR THOUGHT 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 12funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing