California · Nonprofit
GO Public Schools
GO Public Schools (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,247,715 to it, the largest being Lead Liberated ($1,657,686). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What GO Public Schools does
Mission
GO Public Schools builds and supports a multi-city network of local coalitions, whose members parents, educators, and community allies work together to expand access to quality education in Californias most historically underserved communities.We inform, align, organize, and support leaders at every level, from grassroots to grasstops. These leaders are advocates for changes in school governance, policy, practice, and culture that promote excellence and equity for our students and families. Organizing leaders at all levels to advocate for excellent and equitable systems creates the conditions for improved student opportunity, learning, and achievement cradle to career.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Org-Wide Accomplishments- GO developed tools to help families and educators navigate the new state mandated Reading Difficulty Risk Screener. These resources, downloaded nearly 1,000 times, helped move a compliance exercise into a truly impactful mandate. - GO expanded its library of reports, guides, and resources to support families as they navigate the complex education system. This included an updated parent/teacher conference tool. These are available to families throughout the state of California. In total, resources were utilized over 35,000 times. - GO enhanced its Family Leadership Program model to offer affinity cohorts designed to support the unique needs of families across California.The program launched with a program specifically for families with students in small, often rural school districts.
$518,754 spentof which $234,046 as grants$10,000 earned by the program32% of program spendingWest Contra Costa Accomplishments- GO engaged more than 1,200 community members in one-on-one meetings, events, board actions, and other opportunities. This base of supporters allows us to make a significant impact on system-level policy decisions in West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD).- GO staff facilitated a literacy community-led committee, now in its third year, that partnered closely with WCCUSD leadership to shape the rollout plan of the new state mandated K-2 reading screener. This engagement led to a thorough, family- and educator-centered plan that created the foundation for the screener leading to greatly improved literacy practices.- GO co-hosted the annual West Contra Costa Education Fair welcoming over 550 community members to connect with TK-12 schools, local community organizations, colleges, and WCCUSD district departments.
$418,396 spent25% of program spendingFresno Accomplishments- GO engaged more than 650 community members in one-on-one meetings, events, and other opportunities. This base allows us to make a significant impact on system-level policy decisions in Fresno Unified School District (FUSD).- Staff supported families in developing vital leadership skills through GOs signature Family Leadership Program. Over 100 parents completed the six-session course, including a cohort focused on pre-school families.
$323,318 spent20% of program spendingOakland Accomplishments- GO engaged more than 300 community members to take action in support of our work to improve Oaklands public education system in one-on-one meetings, events, and other opportunities. This base of supporters allows us to make a significant impact on system-level policy decisions in Oakland Unified School District.- GO released multiple data reports and led corresponding data talks and walks, engaging over 6,500 Oakland community members. Data talks included key Oakland leaders from OUSD, the Alameda County Office of Education, local community organizations, and elected leaders.
$244,671 spent15% of program spendingNorth Valley Accomplishments - GO engaged more than 200 community members in one-on-one meetings, events, and other opportunities. These engagements informed the development of our multi-school district engagement strategy across Stanislaus County.- Staff supported families in developing vital leadership skills through GOs signature Family Leadership Program. Over two dozen parents completed the six-session course. GO also released multiple data reports and led corresponding data talks, engaging over 200 community members
$139,512 spent8% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,644,651.
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 2018 to 2019, from $1.7M to $4.9M (+185%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 18% · 2022 17% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of GO Public Schools’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% 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.
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
Darcel Sanders
CEO
Board chair
Louis Willacy
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $1.4M.
9 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 GO Public Schools’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 funders by total. 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
GO Public Schools has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
43% 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 GO Public Schools.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 34% · 2019 17% · 2020 29% · 2021 23% · 2022 24% · 2023 21% — 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
52% of GO Public Schools's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
73% of GO Public Schools's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.5M 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
GO Public Schools's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 13 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like GO Public Schools
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
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- GO Public Schools Advocates · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GO Public Schools: 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 GO Public Schools?
- GO Public Schools (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,247,715 to it, the largest being Lead Liberated ($1,657,686). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GO Public Schools have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $15,247,715 in grants to GO Public Schools, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GO Public Schools?
- Lead Liberated is the largest funder on record, with $1,657,686 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GO Public Schools 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 40 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