California · Nonprofit
GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION
GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,381,342 to it, the largest being THE RALPH M PARSONS FOUNDATION ($705,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $4.4M
- Net assets
- $2.3M
What Griffith Observatory Foundation does
Mission
To support and promote griffith observatory as a home for science literacy, education, and public astronomy through resource development and advocacy in partnership with the community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Expanded learning opportunities at the observatory and beyond - Griffith Observatory Foundation provides resources for griffith observatory to develop educational exhibits in our iconic facility and programs that offer science education to audiences beyond los angeles. In 2025, the foundation led a major effort to fund the design and fabrication of a monumental new exhibit, the celestial globe. Inspired by the celestial sphere held by the second-century roman sculpture known as the farnese atlas, the celestial globe spotlights the link between ancient skies and modern astronomy. It is the first major exhibit to be installed at griffith observatory in over 19 years. The foundation also supported the launch of griffith observatory passportsfree, on-site activity booklets that guide visitors and families through the observatory's instruments and exhibits. The foundation sustains specialized staffing and technology that power griffith observatory's dynamic online presence and live broadcasting, expanding griffith observatory's international reach. Supporting the observatory's broadcast team to cover live astronomical events, the foundation funded the journey to chimney rock, colorado,…
$614,991 spentof which $439,108 as grants42% of program spendingSchool program: empowering the next generation - Griffith Observatory Foundation fully funds all staffing, materials, and equipment for griffith observatory's fifth-grade in-person and online school programs. These free s.t.e.m. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) educational experiences are designed to meet california state board of education science standards. In 2025, the programs served: - 28,000 fifth-grade students at griffith observatory. - 40,000 students through the online program, which is delivered live by observatory staff, reaching classrooms beyond los angeles. To ensure that financial barriers never stand in the way of learning, the foundation provides expense reimbursements to eligible schools for transportation costs associated with visiting griffith observatory's in-person school program. In 2025, the foundation awarded a record number of bus scholarships to title I schools from across los angeles county.
$545,643 spentof which $347,974 as grants37% of program spendingSupporting nine decades of public astronomy - to commemorate griffith observatory's 90th anniversary in 2025, the foundation organized a series of programs, events, and special initiatives. On may 14, 2025, elected officials representing the city of los angeles, students, benefactors, staff, volunteers, friends, and honored guests gathered on the north steps of the observatory for speeches and programming honoring the history of the observatory and its impact in the community. In october, the foundation presented two sold-out screenings of the classic film rebel without a cause filmed at griffith observatory in 1955. The foundation also invested in a documentary film project to capture the personal stories of dozens of individuals who have played leading roles at the institution over the past nine decades. Recognizing griffith observatory's history and the importance of preserving its legacy, the foundation launched a multi-phased institutional archive project. In 2025, the foundation fully completed phase one of a five-year plan to catalog and preserve the observatory's extensive archive. An experienced processing archivist was engaged to survey the archive and create a…
$315,978 spentof which $65,571 as grants$23,215 earned by the program21% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,476,612.
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 2022 to 2023, from $2.3M to $3.5M (+54%).
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: 2018 51% · 2019 55% · 2020 18% · 2021 21% · 2022 20% · 2023 1% · 2024 3% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (68% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Elizabeth Greenway
Executive director (as of 03/2025)
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $114k → $1.4M.
10 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 64% · 2019 52% · 2020 42% · 2021 17% · 2022 21% · 2023 43% — 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
39% of GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
91% of GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $332k 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
GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 234 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 234 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION
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
63% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
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 GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION: 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 GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION?
- GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,381,342 to it, the largest being THE RALPH M PARSONS FOUNDATION ($705,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $4,381,342 in grants to GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION?
- THE RALPH M PARSONS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $705,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION 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 55 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