California · Nonprofit
ForWords Inc
ForWords Inc (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $196,854 to it, the largest being MCBURNEY FOUNDATION ($160,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2022
- $316k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $197k
- Net assets
- $347k
What ForWords Inc does
Mission
The Organization provides literacy programs for low-income, under-served students in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, many of whom are English language learners. It is their belief that every student should have the chance to accomplish their dreams, go to college and be fully and effectively employed. They believe that students, particularly those who live in under-resourced communities, deserve educational opportunities to match their drive, intelligence and hopes so they can become proud and accomplished members of our democracy.
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.
Program
The Organization provides instructions and resources to help students develop the ability to write, speak, and read effectively and publish their work in print, video and digital media. The Organization works with students to foster self-awareness, confidence, personal voice and pride in community and culture. These programs ended on August 1, 2022.
$212,168 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2022 Form 990. Program spending in total: $212,168.
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.
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 $163k to $283k (+74%).
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 18% · 2022 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $67k → $66.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 ForWords Inc’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
ForWords Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 95%; 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: 2020 90% · 2021 85% · 2022 98% · 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.
Where its funders are
100% of ForWords Inc's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $354 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Organizations like ForWords 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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 ForWords 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 ForWords Inc?
- ForWords Inc (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $196,854 to it, the largest being MCBURNEY FOUNDATION ($160,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ForWords Inc have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $196,854 in grants to ForWords Inc, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ForWords Inc?
- MCBURNEY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $160,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ForWords 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.
Play a game about who funds ForWords →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), and the filings of 6 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