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California · Nonprofit

Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd

Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd (California) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $717,814 to it, the largest being YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO ($405,283). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$438k
Funders on record
15
Grants received
$718k
Net assets
$400k
9/15 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 81%
01What it does

What Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd does

Mission

Friends of Ruth Asawa School of the Arts FOSOTA is dedicated to championing arts education and arts-based learning at San Franciscos groundbreaking public arts high school and beyond. Our community of donors, volunteers, educators, students, alumni, artists, activists, and allies believe in the transformative power of art in the schools. Together we are mighty.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION SUPPORT: FOSOTA offers free or low-fee funds management for mission-aligned projects that need access to nonprofit grants. In FY 24-25, the organization managed $200k+ in grant funds for projects by students from schools throughout the city, including a youth literacy laureate program, art workshops supporting mental health, and a community stem lab striving to provide STEM education, hands-on workshops and a space for robotics teams to work.

    $278,963 spentof which $271,947 as grants
    63% of program spending
  2. MCATEER CAMPUS COMMUNITY FARM: Grants from the USDA, SF Parks Alliance, Youth Empowerment Fund, and SHARP are helping FOSOTA expand multidisciplinary farm-to-school programming and support the McAteer Campus Community Farms mission to become San Franciscos first schoolyard farm providing produce for public school meals. Improvements included raised garden beds, a shade house, fruit trees, a bee mural, lending library, monthly community volunteer days, and the seasons first crops.

    $67,466 spent
    15% of program spending
  3. CAPSTONE PROJECT AWARDS: Our application-based grants provide funds for student, teacher, department, and community projects. Among them are grants to seniors to help them realize their capstone projects-- in-depth explorations with real-world applications that integrate the academic, artistic, cultural, and personal experiences of an arts-based education. In FY 24-25, the organization provided $16k in student funding, in addition to providing $18k in funding for the capstone class advisor.

    $40,364 spentof which $16,238 as grants
    9% of program spending
  4. ARTS EDUCATION ADVOCACY: FOSOTA partnered with mural artist Nico Berry to create and install a new mural along Woodside Ave in San Francisco. Made possible with a grant from the SF Arts Commission, the mural features large-scale portraits of six arts educators and the names of many others who teach and work in a variety of disciplines, from music, to visual arts, to dance. The murals title, Dreamers of Dreams, comes from a 1873 poem championing the role of the artist in society.

    $36,834 spentof which $35,907 as grants
    8% of program spending
  5. ALUMNI: FOSOTA supported our Alumni Association by partnering with the school and PTSA on graduation celebrations, administering scholastic awards, providing alumni grants, supporting reunions, and sharing alumni stories. In FY 2025-2026, FOSOTA awarded over $7,000 to students and contributed more than $10,000 to graduation and alumni programs that strengthen our school community.

    $17,268 spentof which $7,500 as grants
    4% of program spending

The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $440,895.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($953k) Expenses 100 ($887k) Net assets 100 ($334k)2018 Revenue 98 ($931k) Expenses 116 ($1.0M) Net assets 71 ($236k)2019 Revenue 81 ($774k) Expenses 57 ($505k) Net assets 151 ($506k)2020 Revenue 7 ($66k) Expenses 14 ($120k) Net assets 135 ($452k)2021 Revenue 7 ($64k) Expenses 8 ($73k) Net assets 133 ($443k)2022 Revenue 11 ($109k) Expenses 14 ($125k) Net assets 126 ($423k)2023 Revenue 13 ($124k) Expenses 15 ($130k) Net assets 125 ($417k)2024 Revenue 22 ($209k) Expenses 28 ($250k) Net assets 123 ($410k)2025 Revenue 46 ($438k) Expenses 51 ($452k) Net assets 120 ($400k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (46)Expenses (51)Net assets (120)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $267k to $527k (+97%).

$368k
$267k
$527k
$484k
$486k
$460k
$447k
$483k
$403k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

94% of Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 7,828 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$66k
’17
−$98k
’18
$270k
’19
−$54k
’20
−$8k
’21
−$16k
’22
−$6k
’23
−$41k
’24
−$13k
’25
7.6
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.

20172018201920242025
Listed107678
Joined·+0+0·+4
No longer listed·31·3
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $28k → $79k.

8 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 the School of the Arts Fnd’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 the School of the Arts Fnd leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

98% 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 the School of the Arts Fnd.

56%
largest funder
74%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 75% · 2019 100% · 2020 30% · 2021 53% · 2022 84% · 2023 53% — 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.

How long its funders stay

40% of Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

96% of Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd's grant income comes from California funders.

NH
IL
CA
DE

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

’17
’18
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $192k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 6 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−3% · below the median
Months of reserve7.6mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−9% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd

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

98% of spending goes to programs.

Program 98%Management 2%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
86%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

96%

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 the School of the Arts Fnd: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 the School of the Arts Fnd?
Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd (California) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $717,814 to it, the largest being YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO ($405,283). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd have?
IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $717,814 in grants to Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd?
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO is the largest funder on record, with $405,283 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Friends of the School of the Arts Fnd 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 15 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