California · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL
FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,036,501 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($515,100). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $145k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $846k
What Friends of Vada at Santa Barbara High School does
Mission
Friends of VADA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created to support the Visual Arts & Design Academy (VADA) at Santa Barbara High School.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Fundraising and community awareness efforts, including approx 82 parent, community and student volunteers (representing 809 volunteer hours) to support the Visual Arts & Design Academy (VADA) at Santa Barbara High School, which impacts 241 students annually and thousands of community members through art shows and community events each year. VADA Talks, a community forum and panel discussion was launched which is attracting overwhelming and positive response.
$83,479 spent$124,202 earned by the program101% of program spendingWe embarked on a multiple-year capital campaign fundraising goal to raise ~$7M towards renovation of an existing building and the construction of a new building, which will house a design lab and an art studio. Conceptual design work began in 2019-2020 and students are scheduled to use the new building in the beginning of 2024-2025 school year.
$-657 spent$119,794 earned by the program-1% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $82,822.
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 2021 to 2022, from $755k to $2.0M (+168%).
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.
87% of FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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.
Board chair
Daniel Barnett
Director/Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $9k → $24k.
7 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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 VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL’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 VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
94% 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 VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 100% · 2019 41% · 2020 74% · 2021 43% · 2022 91% · 2023 42% — 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
38% of FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
94% of FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL'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 $66k that is directly attributable, 61% of it comes from funders outside California, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $971k 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.
Against its field
FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL
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
59% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL: 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 FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL?
- FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,036,501 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($515,100). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $1,036,501 in grants to FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $515,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF VADA AT SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL 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 Friends of Vada at Santa Barbara High School →
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 14 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