California · Nonprofit
Head Start California
Head Start California (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $205,060 to it, the largest being American Heart Association Inc ($119,966). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $205k
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Head Start California does
Mission
We are the premier advocacy organization for Head Start agencies throughoutCalifornia. We advocate for our members at the federal, state and local county levelensuring that members speak with a unified voice about the challenges facingCalifornia's most vulnerable families, and the Head Start community that servesthem. By communicating with members, and creating opportunities for learning andconnecting, members are increasingly engaged, unified and supported as they work tobetter serve their clients and communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Held conferences including Education Conference, Parent and Family Engagement Conference, Health Institute, Leadership & Wellness Symposium, Managers & Directors Institute, and Advocacy Day. Through collaboration with corporate partners, we provided additional training for members.
$597,581 spent$743,023 earned by the program60% of program spendingHead Start California engages with other Early Childhood Education advocates and associations to coordinate budgetary and policy change initiatives, and communicates with elected legislators and state budget, education, and social service offices to ensure they are aware of the value of the Federal investment that Head Start brings to California as part of the ECE mixed delivery system in California. We advocate for Head Start programs at both the federal and state levels.
$209,037 spent$144,751 earned by the program21% of program spendingWe support our Head Start member agencies through services that include our job posting site and bi-annual Compensation and Benefits Study. We also provide members with information via our website and communications, as well as help connect members with each other by supporting regional meetings.
$175,934 spent$315,599 earned by the program18% of program spendingHead Start California works with the California Dept of Education's Early Education& Support Division (CDE-EESD) and the California Head Start State CollaborationOffice (CHSSCO) to coordinate efforts to simplify and align state policy and regulations on behalf of Head Start programs, many of whom also have State Preschool contracts, and to facilitates communication between Head Start agencies and CDE-EESD and CHSSCO including collecting input and feedback from the field and disseminating information to the field.
$21,281 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,003,833.
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 $1.6M to $1.9M (+14%).
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 4% · 2018 5% · 2019 4% · 2021 12% · 2022 24% · 2023 7% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
1% of Head Start California’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $120k → $10k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 Head Start California’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 3 of 4 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
Head Start California leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 Head Start California.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
Head Start California draws 59% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $73 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
Head Start California is better cushioned than half of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Head Start California
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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 Head Start California: 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 Head Start California?
- Head Start California (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $205,060 to it, the largest being American Heart Association Inc ($119,966). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Head Start California have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $205,060 in grants to Head Start California, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Head Start California?
- American Heart Association Inc is the largest funder on record, with $119,966 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Head Start California 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 Head Start California →
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 4 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