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California · Nonprofit

FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS

FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,343,902 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ($378,220). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$726k
Funders on record
18
Grants received
$1.3M
Net assets
$427k
7/18 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 24%
01What it does

What Friends of Santa Cruz County Parks does

Mission

Our mission is to preserve, protect, improve and promote the use of santa cruz county parks and open spaces for recreational activities, arts and cultural activities to benefit all generations in our diverse community.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Invest in people: time in nature can improve mental & physical health. However, not everyone has access to those benefits. We develop programs designed with community to broaden representative participation in and benefit from our parks.

    $495,629 spentof which $36,349 as grants$106,688 earned by the program
    66% of program spending
  2. Invest in places: parks and outdoor spaces support our physical and mental health and quality of life. However, parks acreage is not distributed equally and basic park upgrades are underfunded. We support community-driven park improvement campaigns.

    $258,996 spentof which $5,354 as grants$108,298 earned by the program
    34% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $754,625.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($244k) Expenses 100 ($196k) Net assets 100 ($76k)2020 Revenue 313 ($765k) Expenses 321 ($629k) Net assets 279 ($212k)2021 Revenue 265 ($646k) Expenses 213 ($417k) Net assets 580 ($442k)2022 Revenue 363 ($887k) Expenses 537 ($1.1M) Net assets 361 ($275k)2023 Revenue 824 ($2.0M) Expenses 880 ($1.7M) Net assets 724 ($551k)2024 Revenue 1138 ($2.8M) Expenses 1425 ($2.8M) Net assets 706 ($538k)2025 Revenue 297 ($726k) Expenses 428 ($839k) Net assets 560 ($427k)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (297)Expenses (428)Net assets (560)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.5M to $463k (−70%).

$140k
$278k
$533k
$849k
$1.1M
$1.5M
$463k
2019202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 45% · 2021 43% · 2022 13% · 2023 11% · 2024 7% · 2025 29%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$48k
’19
$136k
’20
$229k
’21
−$166k
’22
$287k
’23
−$14k
’24
−$112k
’25
5.0
months of
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

Mariah Roberts

Executive director

Board chair

Lesley Harris Esq

Board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2019202020212022202320242025
Listed101079999
Joined·+0+0+2+2+2+0
No longer listed·030220
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $49k → $101k.

7 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS’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

FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

82% 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 FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS.

28%
largest funder
61%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 69% · 2020 63% · 2021 33% · 2022 53% · 2023 40% — 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 FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 39% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

100% of FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS's grant income comes from California funders.

NJ
CA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $644k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

90% of spending goes to programs.

Program 90%Management 10%Fundraising 0%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS: 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.

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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 FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS?
FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,343,902 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ($378,220). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS have?
IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,343,902 in grants to FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS?
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $378,220 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FRIENDS OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PARKS 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 18 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing