California · Nonprofit
Golden State Opportunity
Golden State Opportunity (California) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,152,161 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($3,634,500). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $8.1M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $3.4M
What Golden State Opportunity does
Mission
Golden State Opportunity (gso) is a nonprofit dedicated to ending poverty by providing all californians with the tools to build financial well-being and thrive. Our work is along two complementary tracks getting people the help they need right now and building the infrastructure to change attitudes toward people living in poverty and the policies that keep them there. Gso leads comprehensive statewide campaigns to help families access tax credits and public benefits, achieve financial stability, and plan for the future through programs that uplift low-income californians. Our community of working families is leading the charge for public policies that end poverty in california. Gso wont stop pushing for systemic change until everyone can easily access the resources, they need to meet their basic needs and transform their lives with financial stability.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Gso's initial project is a statewide outreach campaign called caleitc4me to encourage low-income californians to claim the state's earned income tax credit as well as the federal earned income tax credit. Federal and state-earned income tax credits, which incentivize and reward work, are the most important poverty reduction programs in existence. Despite the efforts of these programs, a large number of californians remain in poverty, many unaware of the resources available to them. Promoting greater participation in existing programs and encouraging new, innovative approaches to fighting causes of poverty would lead to drastic improvements in the standard of living for many low-income families struggling to get by.
$5,608,273 spentof which $1,475,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,608,273.
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 $1.1M to $4.3M (+304%).
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: 2017 25% · 2018 50% · 2019 52% · 2020 70% · 2021 72% · 2022 56% · 2023 73% · 2024 60%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Golden State Opportunity’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Joe Sanberg
Founder/Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $252k → $2.3M.
13 of 39 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 Golden State Opportunity’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
Golden State Opportunity has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
53% 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 Golden State Opportunity.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 25% · 2019 47% · 2020 29% · 2021 33% · 2022 40% · 2023 22% — 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
29% of Golden State Opportunity's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
93% of Golden State Opportunity's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
Golden State Opportunity runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,274 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,274 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Golden State Opportunity
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Golden State Opportunity: 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 Golden State Opportunity?
- Golden State Opportunity (California) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,152,161 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($3,634,500). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Golden State Opportunity have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $13,152,161 in grants to Golden State Opportunity, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Golden State Opportunity?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,634,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Golden State Opportunity 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 39 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