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California · Nonprofit

JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION

JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $284,668 to it, the largest being THE SOLOMON R & REBECCA D BAKER FOUNDATION ($110,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.9M
Funders on record
27
Grants received
$285k
Net assets
$20M
6/27 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 6%
01What it does

What John Wayne Cancer Foundation does

Mission

To lead the fight against cancer with courage, strength and grit.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Jwcf executes and supports programs for cancer prevention and education/advocacy, including: "block the blaze program." block the blaze is a youth sun safety program that teaches kids how to be safe in the sun and prevent skin cancer. It also teaches about how to identify moles and skin spots that need to be seen by a doctor. The program contributes to the california junior lifeguards, usla junior lifeguards and other organizations such as boys & girls clubs which includes donations of sunscreen and skin cancer prevention training, and other cancer education/youth skin cancer awareness.

    $503,269 spentof which $8,075 as grants$3,708 earned by the program
    68% of program spending

  2. Jwcf supports cancer research by funding research grants for john wayne alumni fellows and other prominent cancer researchers with the goal to spot and/or prevent cancer.

    $209,771 spentof which $50,000 as grants
    28% of program spending

  3. Jwcf funds John Wayne Cancer Foundation surgical oncology fellowship programs at university of california irvine and texas tech university health sciences center. Jwcf funds are used to establish and maintain a jwcf surgical oncology fellowship program dedicated to training doctors on advanced surgical oncology, research and state of the art patient care.

    $27,500 spentof which $27,500 as grants
    4% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $740,540.

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 ($1.9M) Expenses 100 ($2.0M) Net assets 100 ($16M)2018 Revenue 102 ($1.9M) Expenses 84 ($1.6M) Net assets 102 ($16M)2019 Revenue 90 ($1.7M) Expenses 78 ($1.5M) Net assets 107 ($17M)2020 Revenue 82 ($1.5M) Expenses 83 ($1.6M) Net assets 111 ($18M)2021 Revenue 107 ($2.0M) Expenses 72 ($1.4M) Net assets 133 ($21M)2022 Revenue 101 ($1.9M) Expenses 209 ($4.1M) Net assets 109 ($17M)2023 Revenue 72 ($1.3M) Expenses 97 ($1.9M) Net assets 106 ($17M)2024 Revenue 125 ($2.3M) Expenses 86 ($1.7M) Net assets 120 ($19M)2025 Revenue 211 ($3.9M) Expenses 86 ($1.7M) Net assets 125 ($20M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (211)Expenses (86)Net assets (125)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 2020 to 2021, from $18M to $21M (+20%).

$16M
$17M
$17M
$18M
$21M
$20M
$19M
$20M
$20M
'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: 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

25% of JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 8,611 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$97k
’17
$255k
’18
$155k
’19
−$113k
’20
$579k
’21
−$2.2M
’22
−$557k
’23
$634k
’24
$2.3M
’25
5.4
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.

Chief executive

Ethan Wayne

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed553554455
Joined·+0+0+2+0+0+0+1+0
No longer listed·02001000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $16k → $40k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
funders
4
6
6
3
3
4
6
2
2

5 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION’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

JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

39%
largest funder
62%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 94% · 2019 42% · 2020 96% · 2021 98% · 2022 77% · 2023 62% — 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

13% of JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 22% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

64% of JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.

ID
IL
NY
MA
CA
DE
AZ
KS
NC
LA
GA
TX
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $38k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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

JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,665 health nonprofits its size.

Operating margin57% · top quartile
Months of reserve5.4mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION

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

The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation80%Women's Cancer Research Foundation78%San Fernando Valley Cancer Foundation77%Saint John's Health Center Foundation77%Sun Safety for Kids77%California Colorectal Cancer Coalition76%Desert Cancer Foundation75%Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation75%

Nationally

The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation80%West Cancer Foundation79%Women's Cancer Research Foundation78%San Fernando Valley Cancer Foundation77%Allyson Whitney Foundation Inc77%Saint John's Health Center Foundation77%Sun Safety for Kids77%Rio Grande Cancer Foundation77%
05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

44% of spending goes to programs.

Program 44%Management 33%Fundraising 23%

Governance

1
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

40%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 18 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
OR
NV
OH
CA
CO
KY
VA
NC
SC
DC
OK
AL
GA

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • John Wayne Enterprises LLC · partnership
  • Northwest Holdings Inc · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION: 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 JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION?
JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $284,668 to it, the largest being THE SOLOMON R & REBECCA D BAKER FOUNDATION ($110,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $284,668 in grants to JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION?
THE SOLOMON R & REBECCA D BAKER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $110,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like JOHN WAYNE CANCER FOUNDATION 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 27 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