California · Nonprofit
FOSTER NATION
FOSTER NATION (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,686,640 to it, the largest being FOSTER CARE COUNTS ($960,205). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $671k
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $886k
What Foster Nation does
Mission
Foster Nation engages and empowers the community to prepare, support and empower foster youth aging out of the system to be self-sufficient adults by providing resources, social support, and mentorship.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Sparks - 6 month career coaching program: we ensure foster youth have equal footing when they enter the professional world by matching them with a dedicated one-on-one career coach, and providing them with career readiness and life skills training necessary to help them become self-sufficient post foster care. Our goal is to help foster youth develop foundational life and professional skills necessary to enter the real world. We believe that one meaningful connection can change a life.
$440,436 spentof which $6,213 as grants74% of program spendingSparks of love - we provide celebratory gifts for foster youth during important milestones/events in their lives, such as high school or college graduation, back to school, or birthdays. Our goal is to remind youth that there are always people who care about them and are in their corner. The mission of this program is to remind youth that they belong, they matter, and they are not alone.
$36,495 spentof which $2,484 as grants6% of program spendingThe essentials - (previously shopping days or basic needs) free shopping days for foster youth: we help build confidence in foster youth by providing essential resources via free pop-up shopping days for youth to shop for professional and casual clothing, toiletries, beauty products, and accessories. Our goal is to ensure foster youth feel confident as they pursue their professional and educational dreams.
$114,771 spentof which $101,703 as grants19% of program spendingMeal nation - free meal delivery/pick up service to fight food insecurity: during the covid-19 pandemic, we launched the meal nation program to address food insecurity for foster youth students in 57 colleges. This was done by providing youth with free meals for 30-60-90 days that can either be picked up from a local restaurant, through our partnership with bento, or delivered through our partner freshly. We distributed 76,000+ meals to over 2,000 foster youth.
$6,710 spentof which $5,739 as grants1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $598,412.
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 2021 to 2022, from $580k to $854k (+47%).
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.
93% of FOSTER NATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% 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
Maggie Lin
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $500 → $218k.
10 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 FOSTER NATION’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
FOSTER NATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
79% 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 FOSTER NATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 70% · 2021 90% · 2022 24% · 2023 46% — 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
0% of FOSTER NATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
86% of FOSTER NATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $324k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
FOSTER NATION's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 8 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 21,616 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like FOSTER NATION
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
41% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOSTER NATION: 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 FOSTER NATION?
- FOSTER NATION (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,686,640 to it, the largest being FOSTER CARE COUNTS ($960,205). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOSTER NATION have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $1,686,640 in grants to FOSTER NATION, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOSTER NATION?
- FOSTER CARE COUNTS is the largest funder on record, with $960,205 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOSTER NATION 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 Foster Nation →
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 28 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