California · Nonprofit
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,886,288 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($9,853,356). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.5M
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $3.3M
What Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc does
Mission
GBLA's mission is to "promote social change and justice by providing high quality legal services to Kern County's low-income and elderly."
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
State Bar of CaliforniaFunds from the State Bar are used to support the Older American Act projects such as the Seniors Law Center and the Grandparent Guardianship Program as well as other similar projects of GBLA.
$3,887,650 spent56% of program spendingLegal Services Corporation Provides free legal aid in civil matters to low-income individuals and families throughout Kern County. Core areas of practice include health law, housing and homelessness, family and children services, domestic violence, guardianship, consumer law, and elder law.
$1,577,206 spent23% of program spendingSargent shriver pilot
$668,470 spent10% of program spendingFair housing initiatives project (hud)
$338,257 spent5% of program spendingfirst 5 kern- guardianship caregiver project
$162,416 spent2% of program spendingKern county aging and adult services
$123,283 spent2% of program spendingOther ProgramsSee Schedule O
$120,622 spent2% of program spendingFirst 5 Kern- Domestic Violence Reduction Project
$90,689 spent1% of program spendingDepartment of housing and urban development
Department of justice
City of bakersfield fair housing
Kern Health Consumer Center
Kern County Department of Human Services
The 13 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,968,593.
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 2023 to 2024, from $5.0M to $3.9M (−22%).
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 97% · 2018 98% · 2019 98% · 2020 99% · 2021 98% · 2022 93% · 2023 99% · 2024 98% · 2025 99%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (93% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
Valentin Narvaez
Executive Director
Board chair
Vanessa Chavez
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $1.8M.
1 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc’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
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 91% 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
95% 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 Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 91% · 2019 89% · 2020 92% · 2021 94% · 2022 85% · 2023 92% — broadly stable.
“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
80% of Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 67% 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
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $91k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 5 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.8M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$3.0M
- Department of Justice$750k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc: 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 Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc?
- Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,886,288 to it, the largest being LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ($9,853,356). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $10,886,288 in grants to Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc?
- LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $9,853,356 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance Inc 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 Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance →
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 9 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