California · Nonprofit
La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation
La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $293,793 to it, the largest being THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION ($120,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $234k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $294k
- Net assets
- $849k
What La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation does
Mission
The Organizations purpose is to facilitate quality projects and programs that provide positive activities for youth, strengthen community and family bonds, as well as enhance pride in La Mesa and its Parks.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Expand the Parks is a program devoted to putting on free events for the community in the La Mesa parks which include concerts and movie screenings.
$50,434 spent26% of program spendingClean Energy Grant Program allowed installing LED portable solar light towers and purchase two electic unitlity vehicles.
$89,596 spent46% of program spendingRipples4Ever scholarship program awarded scholarships to individuals for traditional day camp.
$15,000 spent8% of program spendingProgram Service Expenses 16,015, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 Downtown District Sign - the Foundation entered into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the La Mesa Village Association to construct a Downtown La Mesa District Sign. Program Service Expenses 22,689, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 The La Mesa Community Garden program provides gardening spaces to members of the community in order to provide the dense population outdoor activities, community space, and access to communitygardens.
$38,704 spent20% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $193,734.
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.
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 $354k to $689k (+95%).
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: 2023 4% · 2024 3% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (18% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Misty Thompson
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $1k → $57k.
3 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 La Mesa Park and Recreation 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
La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 85%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
49% 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 La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 80% · 2022 99% · 2023 60% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $126k 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
La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,453 recreation & sports nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like La Mesa Park and Recreation 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
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
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 La Mesa Park and Recreation 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.
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 La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation?
- La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $293,793 to it, the largest being THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION ($120,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $293,793 in grants to La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation?
- THE CONRAD PREBYS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $120,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like La Mesa Park and Recreation 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 6 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