Skip to content

California · Nonprofit

INQUIREFIRST

INQUIREFIRST (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $309,303 to it, the largest being GORDON E AND BETTY I MOORE FOUNDATION ($80,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$253k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$309k
Net assets
$216k
4/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 40%
01What it does

What Inquirefirst does

Mission

Investigative journalism presented by means of educational workshops and media outlets; to inform the general public by providing information they need to have a voice in current issues, environmentally, politically, and socially.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. To sponsor journalists from the united states and latin america with workshops specific to investigative reporting.

    $364,019 spent
    98% of program spending
  2. To sponsor journalists from the united states and latin america with workshops specific to investigative reporting.

    $6,410 spent
    2% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $370,429.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($124k) Expenses 100 ($131k) Net assets 100 ($5k)2018 Revenue 146 ($181k) Expenses 137 ($180k) Net assets 135 ($7k)2019 Revenue 169 ($210k) Expenses 153 ($201k) Net assets 329 ($16k)2020 Revenue 225 ($280k) Expenses 191 ($250k) Net assets 960 ($47k)2021 Revenue 209 ($260k) Expenses 177 ($231k) Net assets 1546 ($75k)2022 Revenue 110 ($137k) Expenses 165 ($215k) Net assets -58 ($-2792)2023 Revenue 464 ($577k) Expenses 212 ($277k) Net assets 6124 ($297k)2024 Revenue 405 ($503k) Expenses 358 ($469k) Net assets 6833 ($332k)2025 Revenue 204 ($253k) Expenses 283 ($370k) Net assets 4448 ($216k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (204)Expenses (283)Net assets (4448)Peer revenue range

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 $18k to $316k (+1653%).

$7k
$23k
$35k
$127k
$103k
$18k
$316k
$379k
$230k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2019 50% · 2020 42% · 2021 57% · 2022 31% · 2023 80% · 2024 86% · 2025 60%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

99% of INQUIREFIRST’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$6k
’17
$2k
’18
$9k
’19
$31k
’20
$28k
’21
−$78k
’22
$300k
’23
$34k
’24
−$117k
’25
7.2
months of
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.

2019202020212022202320242025
Listed8876666
Joined·+0+1+1+0+0+0
No longer listed·022000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $773 → $20k.

3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 INQUIREFIRST’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

INQUIREFIRST has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

50% 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 INQUIREFIRST.

26%
largest funder
60%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 60% · 2020 53% · 2021 50% · 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.

How long its funders stay

29% of INQUIREFIRST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

68% of INQUIREFIRST's grant income comes from California funders.

IL
NY
CA
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $74k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

INQUIREFIRST is better cushioned than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−46% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve7.2mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding INQUIREFIRST receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record.

Federal$2.1M
grants $2.1Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
26
Top agencies
  • Department of State$2.1M

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like INQUIREFIRST

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

100% of spending goes to programs.

Program 100%Management 0%Fundraising 0%

Governance

4
board members
0%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INQUIREFIRST: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 INQUIREFIRST?
INQUIREFIRST (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $309,303 to it, the largest being GORDON E AND BETTY I MOORE FOUNDATION ($80,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does INQUIREFIRST have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $309,303 in grants to INQUIREFIRST, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of INQUIREFIRST?
GORDON E AND BETTY I MOORE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like INQUIREFIRST 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 Inquirefirst →

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 11 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