Oregon · Nonprofit
GREAT LIFE MENTORING
GREAT LIFE MENTORING (Oregon) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $484,730 to it, the largest being THE STERLING DONOR ADVISED FUND ($280,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $465k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $485k
- Net assets
- $363k
What Great Life Mentoring does
Mission
Great Life Mentoring cultivates meaningful relationships where children facing adversity-and the adults who mentor them-live happier, healthier lives.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In 2025, Great Life Mentoring (GLM) provided services to youth in the Portland, Oregon and Clark County, Washington, areas while celebrating 25 years of its unique mentoring model that improves the mental health conditions of youth from low-resource families. The organization partnered with local mental health organizations and schools to serve fifty-nine youth with trained and supported community volunteers who provide weekly mentoring for a minimum of one year. GLM continued its partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), which is conducting a randomized controlled research study, The Study of Mental Health And Relationships (SMART), to evaluate the effectiveness of mentoring relationships provided through GLM. The goal is to promote the resilience and well-being of youth experiencing mental health challenges. Study details are available on Clinicaltrials.gov. GLM completed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative to ensure the organization's practices and strategies effectively reflect and respond to the needs of the diverse population it serves.
$341,387 spent100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $341,387.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $152k to $491k (+222%).
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: 2022 89% · 2023 45% · 2024 89% · 2025 63%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of GREAT LIFE MENTORING’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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
Elizabeth Higley
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $90k → $288k.
3 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 GREAT LIFE MENTORING’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
GREAT LIFE MENTORING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
79% 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 GREAT LIFE MENTORING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 97% — 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.
Where its funders are
61% of GREAT LIFE MENTORING'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 $190k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Oregon, across 2 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $295k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
GREAT LIFE MENTORING is better cushioned than half of the 3,482 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,482 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like GREAT LIFE MENTORING
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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GREAT LIFE MENTORING: 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 GREAT LIFE MENTORING?
- GREAT LIFE MENTORING (Oregon) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $484,730 to it, the largest being THE STERLING DONOR ADVISED FUND ($280,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GREAT LIFE MENTORING have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $484,730 in grants to GREAT LIFE MENTORING, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GREAT LIFE MENTORING?
- THE STERLING DONOR ADVISED FUND is the largest funder on record, with $280,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GREAT LIFE MENTORING find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 Great Life Mentoring →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 5 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