California · Nonprofit
HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT
HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT (California) receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,906,087 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($3,655,000). 62 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 121
- Grants received
- $27M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Hidden Genius Project does
Mission
To train and mentor black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills to transform their lives and communities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
"oakland immersion site" the Hidden Genius Project (thgp)trains and mentors black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship and leadershp skills to transform their lives and communities. 2,250 young people participated in (thgp)'s various sites & programs in 2019. A new component added to our program in 2019 is the "community partner programming". Our intensive immersion program is a holistic 15-month mentorship experience that provides computer science, software development, entrepreneurship and leadership training for black male youth. Following an application, interview and acceptance into the program, students receive more than 800 hours of mentorship and training.
$8,445,876 spent100% of program spending"catalyst program"
"richmond immersion site"
Los angeles immersion site
85 oakland headquarters (1441 bldg.)
Other programs
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,445,876.
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 $15M to $26M (+70%).
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: 2021 2% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Brandon Nicholson
CEO
Board chair
Kilimanjaro Robbs
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 50 funders, grant income rose $252k → $7.0M.
33 of 121 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 121 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
HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
60% 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 HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 26% · 2019 28% · 2020 10% · 2021 30% · 2022 19% · 2023 30% — growing more concentrated.
“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
40% of HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
54% of HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT'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 $12M that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from funders outside California, across 20 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 4,064 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,064 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT
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
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT: 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 HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT?
- HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT (California) receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $26,906,087 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($3,655,000). 62 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 121 organizations giving $26,906,087 in grants to HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT, 62 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT?
- TIDES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,655,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HIDDEN GENIUS PROJECT 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 121 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