California · Nonprofit
Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo
Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $441,030 to it, the largest being PRO PUBLICA INC ($115,320). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $253k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $441k
- Net assets
- $37k
What Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo does
Mission
Informed California Foundations primary activity is original public service news reporting, initially in Vallejo and then in other locations in California. This explanatory and investigative reporting illuminates local and state institutions, public and private individuals holding disproportionate power, and underreported themes such as civil rights and municipal corruption. The organization features deeply researched reporting and expert analysis to ensure the public, policymakers, enforcement bodies, and other stakeholders have access to comprehensive and contextualized information on topics of relevance to the community. Informed Californias news content and method of producing the content is educational and consistent with tax requirements. The purpose of the reporting is to provide readers with sufficient information and development to aid readers in forming an independent opinion about issues of relevance and importance in the local community. This reporting and expert analysis t
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Investigative Reporting in the Public InterestOpen Vallejo published groundbreaking, original stories in 2025 that generated major impact in Vallejo, across California, and nationally.Open Vallejo broke a major national story when it was the sole newsroom to report from the scene of 82-year-old Curtis Linds homicide in Vallejo in January 2025. The newsroom soon connected Linds killing to a group of bright young people who authorities allege are connected to half a dozen homicides around the country. Open Vallejo repeatedly scooped far larger and better-resourced outlets, and was featured in a major national program.In May 2025, Open Vallejo published I cant breathe: video shows death Vallejo police concealed for years, a major new investigation and accompanying video revealing body camera footage and chilling new details about the 2016 death of Darryl Dean Mefferd in Vallejo police custody. The investigation, distinct from the newsrooms original 2024 report, was made possible by Open Vallejos public records litigation and ongoing reporting, which convinced four outside law enforcement agencies to release their records even as the city of Vallejo refused. The investigation won the…
$268,763 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $268,763.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $39k to $125k (+219%).
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.
98% of Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% 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
Geoffrey W King
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $10k → $89k.
5 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 11 of 13 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
Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo leans on a few funders — its largest provides 26% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
86% 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 Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 63% · 2022 36% · 2023 45% — diversifying over time.
“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
50% of Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 54% 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
Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $119k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo has grown faster than half of the 17,450 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo
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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo: 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 Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo?
- Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $441,030 to it, the largest being PRO PUBLICA INC ($115,320). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $441,030 in grants to Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo?
- PRO PUBLICA INC is the largest funder on record, with $115,320 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo 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 Informed California Foundation DBA - Open Vallejo →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 13 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