California · Nonprofit
FREE THE NEED
FREE THE NEED (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,305 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($10,175). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $21k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $31k
- Net assets
- $49k
What Free the Need does
Mission
Public benefit: provide surplus food, clothing and household goods serving families and individuals in under-served communities
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Conducted weekly surplus food distribution program using volunteers who gathered food donations from individuals, growers, grocers, markets, retail and wholesale merchants. Food was distributed in three California counties and one Oregon county to needy families, wildfire victims and under-served communities. Includes a large holiday food distribution of whole turkeys.
$24,625 spent66% of program spendingConducted clothing distribution program using volunteers who gathered surplus clothing donations from retail shops, manufacturers and wholesale merchants which were distributed to needy families, service agencies. An annual Back-to-School backpack and school supply giveaway was held for school aged children and their families. In addition, donated furniture and housewares were collected and distributed to families. Distributions were done in four California counties and one Oregon county.
$12,802 spent34% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $37,427.
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.
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 $64k to $81k (+26%).
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 FREE THE NEED’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $1k → $62.
3 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 FREE THE NEED’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
FREE THE NEED leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
57% 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 FREE THE NEED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 80% · 2020 64% · 2021 97% · 2022 91% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
57% of FREE THE NEED's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $14k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $18k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
FREE THE NEED's revenue fell 37% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 663 unclassified nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like FREE THE NEED
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.
Public support
95%
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 FREE THE NEED: 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 FREE THE NEED?
- FREE THE NEED (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $31,305 to it, the largest being NETWORK FOR GOOD ($10,175). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FREE THE NEED have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $31,305 in grants to FREE THE NEED, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FREE THE NEED?
- NETWORK FOR GOOD is the largest funder on record, with $10,175 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FREE THE NEED 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 Free the Need →
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 5 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