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California · Nonprofit

LEAD CALIFORNIA

LEAD CALIFORNIA (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,000 to it, the largest being THE WHITMAN INSTITUTE ($32,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$257k
Funders on record
2
Grants received
$40k
Net assets
$180k
1/2 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 7%
01What it does

What Lead California does

Mission

Lc is a university and college presidents membership organization that provides educational services and support to higher education institutions in california, focusing on the pedagogy of service learning, civic engagement and community service.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Lead California supports the implementation and administration of community service, service learning, community based participatory research, and related civic engagement activities on our Lead California member campuses. This includes conducting campus site visits to member institutions, consulting with campus representatives via telephone to offer advice and assistance, organizing networking opportunities between campuses and campus representatives, and creating and sending monthly newsletters and other publication resources to our campus members. Lead California also organizes instructional webinars and holds retreats for service-learning directors and leaders. Lead California spends time writing letters of interest for funding opportunities and edited an online resource publication for the service learning field. Lead California managines membership renewals, conducting board meetings, and managing human resources and fiscal management for Lead California.

    $322,367 spent$323,529 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $322,367.

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 ($380k) Expenses 100 ($383k) Net assets 100 ($558k)2018 Revenue 101 ($382k) Expenses 106 ($407k) Net assets 95 ($533k)2019 Revenue 112 ($426k) Expenses 103 ($396k) Net assets 101 ($563k)2020 Revenue 92 ($349k) Expenses 113 ($431k) Net assets 86 ($481k)2021 Revenue 106 ($401k) Expenses 101 ($386k) Net assets 89 ($496k)2022 Revenue 87 ($329k) Expenses 120 ($458k) Net assets 66 ($367k)2023 Revenue 92 ($350k) Expenses 97 ($370k) Net assets 62 ($347k)2024 Revenue 89 ($339k) Expenses 104 ($397k) Net assets 52 ($289k)2025 Revenue 68 ($257k) Expenses 96 ($366k) Net assets 32 ($180k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (68)Expenses (96)Net assets (32)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 2021 to 2022, from $496k to $367k (−26%).

$558k
$533k
$563k
$481k
$496k
$367k
$347k
$289k
$180k
'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

100% of LEAD CALIFORNIA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$4k
’17
−$25k
’18
$29k
’19
−$82k
’20
$15k
’21
−$129k
’22
−$20k
’23
−$58k
’24
−$109k
’25
5.9
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

Elaine Ikeda

Executive director

Board chair

Saul Jimenez-Sandoval

Executive board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed555555555
Joined·+0+0+0+2+1+0+2+0
No longer listed·00021020
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2019: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $25k → $8k.

Funder
'17
'19
'24*
total
funders
1
1
1

From the IRS filings of LEAD CALIFORNIA’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

LEAD CALIFORNIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

81%
largest funder
100%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 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.

Where its funders are

81% of LEAD CALIFORNIA's grant income comes from California funders.

NJ
CA

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

’17
’19
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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

LEAD CALIFORNIA's revenue fell 32% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−43% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve5.9mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−5% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like LEAD CALIFORNIA

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

80% of spending goes to programs.

Program 80%Management 20%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
0%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LEAD CALIFORNIA: 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 LEAD CALIFORNIA?
LEAD CALIFORNIA (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,000 to it, the largest being THE WHITMAN INSTITUTE ($32,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does LEAD CALIFORNIA have?
IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $40,000 in grants to LEAD CALIFORNIA, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of LEAD CALIFORNIA?
THE WHITMAN INSTITUTE is the largest funder on record, with $32,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like LEAD CALIFORNIA 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 Lead California →

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 2 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