California · Nonprofit
La Sierra University
La Sierra University (California) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,612,558 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($1,000,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $72M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $178M
What La Sierra University does
Mission
La Sierra University's mission is to seek truth, enlarging human understanding through scholarship; to know god, ourselves, and the world through reflection, instruction, and mentoring; to serve others, contributing to the good of our local and global communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instruction and research programs served more than 1,100 undergraduate and more than 340 graduate students. These programs have a community-centered approach around general studies, international learning experiences and culminates in a senior project of original scholarship.
$49,784,283 spentof which $18,687,722 as grants$44,570,142 earned by the program76% of program spendingStudent services served students' emotional, physical, spiritual well being, intellectual, cultural and social development outside of the classroom. More than 100 students volunteered for community service. There are 4 active ministries and 24 social clubs. The university has men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's track, and women's volleyball varsity programs. Approximately 239 people participate. There is also an intramural program that is open to all students for participation. The intramural sports include: flag football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton, beach volleyball, pickleball, and softball. 236 students were able to participate in the program this year.
$10,421,412 spent$3,010,962 earned by the program16% of program spendingAuxiliaries - expenses for enterprises that exist to furnish goods or services to students, faculty or staff. 552 students lived in residence halls and 84 in university apartments and houses. In addition, 43 faculty and staff occupy apartments and houses owned by the university.
$5,723,057 spent$8,357,607 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $65,928,752.
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 2020 to 2021, from $193M to $224M (+16%).
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: 2020 4% · 2021 8% · 2022 13% · 2023 9% · 2024 2% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
11% of La Sierra University’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Bradford Newton
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $142k → $257k.
11 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 37% 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 Sierra University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 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
La Sierra University leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
45% 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 Sierra University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 45% · 2019 42% · 2020 26% · 2021 35% · 2022 38% · 2023 18% — 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
59% of La Sierra University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
La Sierra University draws 78% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $961k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 Sierra University's funding base is broadening — from 12 funders to 17 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding La Sierra University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22.8M on record.
- Department of Education$22.6M
- National Science Foundation$241k
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 La Sierra University
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- General Conference of Sda · exempt
- Nad of Sda · exempt
- Pacific Union Conference of Sda · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for La Sierra University: 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 Sierra University?
- La Sierra University (California) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,612,558 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($1,000,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does La Sierra University have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $2,612,558 in grants to La Sierra University, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of La Sierra University?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like La Sierra University 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 La Sierra University →
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 39 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