California · Nonprofit
Independent Coast Observer Community News
Independent Coast Observer Community News (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,100 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,100). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $555k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $13k
- Net assets
- $114k
What Independent Coast Observer Community News does
Mission
To continue to publish the Independent Coast Observer each week as a printed newspaper serving the "Mendonoma" community of the coastal towns from Jenner to Elk. The newspaper shall be a forum for the open exchange of opinions and ideas and continue to serve the community with fair and objective coverage of all issues while also providing employment and internship opportunities to local residents.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Independent Coast Observer Community News, Inc, a nonprofit corporation, will continue to publish the Independent Coast Observer each week as a 24 page printed newspaper serving the Mendonoma community of the coastal towns from Jenner to Elk.The papers vision and mission will remain the same as when it was founded in 1969 by Johanna McLauglin: To keep our rural, coastal community informed and up to date on all local news, happenings, events, stories and activities of interest to and benefit for our readers. It shall remain a forum for the open exchange of opinions and ideas and continue to serve the community with fair and objective coverage of all issues while also providing employment and internship opportunities to local residents.
$515,435 spent$467,762 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $515,435.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $20k to $96k (+375%).
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.
38% of Independent Coast Observer Community News’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 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
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
2 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 Independent Coast Observer Community News’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
Independent Coast Observer Community News leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% 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 Independent Coast Observer Community News.
“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
100% of Independent Coast Observer Community News'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $13k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Independent Coast Observer Community News runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Independent Coast Observer Community News
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
55% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Independent Coast Observer Community News: 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 Independent Coast Observer Community News?
- Independent Coast Observer Community News (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,100 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($7,100). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Independent Coast Observer Community News have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $13,100 in grants to Independent Coast Observer Community News.
- Who is the largest funder of Independent Coast Observer Community News?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $7,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Independent Coast Observer Community News 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 2022–2024), and the filings of 2 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