California · Nonprofit
FORWARD IMPACT
FORWARD IMPACT (California) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,655,062 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($3,325,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.0M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $3.2M
What Forward Impact does
Mission
Represent justice turns stories into action to change the justice system, while building the capacity of system-impacted communities. Our vision is a fair legal system, dignity for system-impacted communities, and an end to extreme sentencing and mass incarceration.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Our original storytelling program includes: 1) the ambassador program, a 12-month fellowship that invests deeply in building the personal storytelling skills and leadership of system-impacted individuals; and 2) a community storytelling initiative that builds capacity for community organizations that desire to use storytelling as a tool for culture change. Since the launch of our program, represent justice has trained 39 ambassadors, and 10 community organizations, in narrative power-building and filmmaking, generating 250,000+ unique online views of the original short film content produced through the program.
$2,011,297 spentof which $15,000 as grants71% of program spendingOur films & series program provides pro-bono impact campaign partnership for projects with system-impacted filmmakers at the helm. Each year, we identify and support national campaigns for films that are helmed by formerly incarcerated storytellers. This gives the storytellers access to critical resources, strategy, and support to mobilize audiences in ways that further their work and creates partnership opportunities and relationships with other movement leaders across the country. Since 2019, we have led national impact campaigns for seven feature films that address pressing issues in the criminal legal system. Our film campaigns team has produced 1,200+ screenings across the country, educating 60,000+ audiences on issues of mass incarceration.
$619,696 spentof which $133,157 as grants$227 earned by the program22% of program spendingOur speakers bureau showcases the ecosystem of system-impacted leaders who work in partnership with represent justice to change the culture of the legal system. The bureau is an engine of economic mobility and opportunity for dozens of individuals impacted by the system who are facing numerous barriers, including access to living wage jobs. This investment in the creatives we work with helps accelerate their growth and long-term sustainability as public-facing leaders in the justice movement.
$190,465 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,821,458.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.9M to $3.4M (+79%).
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 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FORWARD IMPACT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Daniel Forkkio
Chief executive officer & treasurer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 20 funders, grant income fell $4.2M → $2.7M.
19 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 IMPACT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
FORWARD IMPACT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
63% 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 FORWARD IMPACT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 68% · 2020 59% · 2021 29% · 2022 28% · 2023 28% — 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
24% of FORWARD IMPACT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
FORWARD IMPACT draws 74% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 IMPACT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like FORWARD IMPACT
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
65%
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 IMPACT: 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 IMPACT?
- FORWARD IMPACT (California) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,655,062 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($3,325,000). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FORWARD IMPACT have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $17,655,062 in grants to FORWARD IMPACT, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FORWARD IMPACT?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $3,325,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FORWARD IMPACT 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 55 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