California · Nonprofit
Forward Change
Forward Change (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,225,769 to it, the largest being THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT ($1,023,040). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $23k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $7k
What Forward Change does
Mission
Forward Change helps foundations, community-based organizations and government agencies pursue comprehensive strategies to improve the life outcomes and opportunities for children, young adults and families living in disadvantaged communities. We specialize in strategies built on research, policy change, and leadership development.The specific exempt purpose of Forward Change is to provide research and strategic guidance to nonprofits and government agencies on achieving equity-based social change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Knowledge Building - Research Synthesis: Research scans, analysis and synthesis regarding causes/predictors of youth outcomes in the areas of K-12 education, juvenile justice, adult criminal justice, postsecondary education, health, and workforce. Published several reports and worked with governments and nonprofits to implement key findings. Data Analysis Research: Obtained, analyzed and reported administrative and publicly-available data on the prevalence of key youth outcomes. Developed metrics dashboards and tools for understanding data. Publications: Published reports and briefing documents on issues pertaining to K-12 education, juvenile justice, adult criminal justice, postsecondary education, health, and workforce.
$204,228 spent$9,518 earned by the program62% of program spendingCapacity-BuildingWebinars and Trainings: Conducted several webinars and trainings on topics related to intergenerational mobility, postsecondary pathways for youth in long-term juvenile confinement, life course approaches to improving life outcomes, structural racism and equity. Program Evaluation and Strategic Guidance: Conducted evaluations for local nonprofit programs as well as provided strategic guidance in program data collection and improvement. Drafted evaluation reports and presentations. Program Development: Worked with nonprofit stakeholders to develop programmatic interventions to improve educational outcomes for youth and young adults of color.
$126,634 spent$125,000 earned by the program38% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $330,862.
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 $1.3M to $396k (−68%).
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.
0% of Forward Change’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $248k → $83k.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 Forward Change’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
Forward Change leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 99% · 2019 57% · 2020 92% · 2021 38% · 2022 64% · 2023 100% — 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
17% of Forward Change's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
92% of Forward Change's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $333k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Forward Change's revenue fell 97% between 2021 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,787 human services nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like Forward Change
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
46% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 Forward Change: 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 Forward Change?
- Forward Change (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,225,769 to it, the largest being THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT ($1,023,040). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Forward Change have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $2,225,769 in grants to Forward Change, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Forward Change?
- THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT is the largest funder on record, with $1,023,040 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Forward Change 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 9 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