California · Nonprofit
HOW TO BUILD UP INC
HOW TO BUILD UP INC (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $998,428 to it, the largest being Humanity United ($400,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $998k
- Net assets
- $518k
What How to Build Up Inc does
Mission
How to build up's (build up) global core team builds peace around the world by bringing together diverse skills: mediation, negotiation, facilitation, marketing, media, filmmaking, design, coding, data analysis, social media, and graphic recording.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Our most significant area of programming in 2025 was focused on digital conflict. This work focuses on analyzing online factors contributing to conflicts, with a special focus on social media, and then identifying programming or policy entry points to address them.
$884,523 spentof which $141,761 as grants49% of program spendingThe next most significant portion of build up's work in 2025 was in the area of inclusive politics where we provided support to peacebuilding processes at the intersection of governance and democratization using participatory methodologies, digital technologies and peacebuilding expertise.
$653,606 spentof which $411,733 as grants36% of program spendingBuild up developed a substantial open source peacebuilding tool enabling peacebuilders to "listen" to social media and gain greater understandings of the attitudes and behaviors driving digital conflicts. This tool is referred to as phoenix and has become recognized and adopted by many in the peacebuilding field. Build up also provided training to allow others to use the tool proficiently.
$174,884 spentof which $14,400 as grants10% of program spendingBuild up held its 12th annual build peace conference in spain
$92,201 spentof which $7,592 as grants5% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,805,214.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $361k to $711k (+97%).
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: 2024 47%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of HOW TO BUILD UP INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Helena Puig Larrauri
CEO/consultant
Board chair
Dr Medinat Malefakis
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $344k → $249k.
1 of 7 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 HOW TO BUILD UP 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
HOW TO BUILD UP INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
41% 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 HOW TO BUILD UP INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 44% · 2021 51% · 2022 45% · 2023 80% — 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.
Where its funders are
56% of HOW TO BUILD UP INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14k 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
HOW TO BUILD UP INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like HOW TO BUILD UP 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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 HOW TO BUILD UP 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 HOW TO BUILD UP INC?
- HOW TO BUILD UP INC (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $998,428 to it, the largest being Humanity United ($400,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HOW TO BUILD UP INC have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $998,428 in grants to HOW TO BUILD UP INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HOW TO BUILD UP INC?
- Humanity United is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HOW TO BUILD UP 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 How to Build Up →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 7 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