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California · Nonprofit

LINK GLOBAL

LINK GLOBAL (California) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,318,595 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,537,175). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$4.2M
Funders on record
78
Grants received
$15M
Net assets
$2.8M
48/78 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 62%
01What it does

What Link Global does

Mission

To work alongside the north korean people to accelerate change by supporting and empowering north korean refugees, changing the way the world sees north korea, and increasing the north korean people's access to outside information and technology.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Capacity building: as north koreans resettle and begin navigating their new lives, many aspire to not only find success, but also work towards impacting this issue. We identify current needs in the defector community and develop programs to increase access to education, skill-building, and career opportunities. With the tools they need, north koreans prove their potential as agents of change on campus, in the workplace, and on the global stage. In 2025, 144 north koreans were empowered through our programs. For further details about our capacity building program accomplishments, visit: https://lbrtynk.org/ar-2025-cb

    $1,036,323 spentof which $647,047 as grants
    34% of program spending
  2. Information access: information access is our space to collaborate, innovate, and develop new initiatives to empower north korean people with information and technology from the outside world. In 2025, we launched 7 technology projects and over 80,000 lines of code with the aid of 68 north korean defectors. For further details about our information access program accomplishments, visit: https://lbrtynk.org/ar-2025-ia

    $745,942 spent
    25% of program spending
  3. Changing the narrative: while dictators and nuclear missiles command headlines about north korea, they erase the real heart of the country its people. Link amplifies north korean voices through online media, documentaries, and events, and empowers north koreans to take authorship over their own stories. In 2025, 11,833,136 people were reached online and 2,746 people were reached in-person. For further details about our changing the narrative program accomplishments, visit: https://lbrtynk.org/ar-2025-ctn.

    $619,883 spent
    21% of program spending
  4. Rescue & resettlement: we help north korean refugees reach freedom through a 3,000-mile secret rescue route from northern china to southeast asia. From there, north koreans can safely resettle in south korea or the us. Our team helps them succeed in their new lives with financial assistance, community building, and access to resources and services. In 2025, 17 north koreans were rescued, 22 were resettled, and 122 were supported through their resettlement. For further details about our rescue and resettlement accomplishments, visit: https://lbrtynk.org/ar-2025-rr

    $619,167 spent
    20% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,021,315.

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 ($3.2M) Expenses 100 ($2.1M) Net assets 100 ($1.5M)2018 Revenue 129 ($4.1M) Expenses 166 ($3.5M) Net assets 141 ($2.2M)2019 Revenue 96 ($3.1M) Expenses 171 ($3.6M) Net assets 105 ($1.6M)2020 Revenue 100 ($3.2M) Expenses 128 ($2.7M) Net assets 139 ($2.1M)2021 Revenue 144 ($4.7M) Expenses 141 ($3.0M) Net assets 247 ($3.8M)2022 Revenue 128 ($4.1M) Expenses 189 ($4.0M) Net assets 253 ($3.9M)2023 Revenue 139 ($4.5M) Expenses 256 ($5.4M) Net assets 192 ($3.0M)2024 Revenue 152 ($4.9M) Expenses 233 ($4.9M) Net assets 189 ($2.9M)2025 Revenue 129 ($4.2M) Expenses 203 ($4.3M) Net assets 181 ($2.8M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (129)Expenses (203)Net assets (181)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 $2.4M to $3.9M (+61%).

$1.6M
$2.2M
$1.7M
$2.4M
$3.9M
$4.1M
$3.3M
$3.3M
$3.1M
'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

99% of LINK GLOBAL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,680 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.

$1.1M
’17
$624k
’18
−$542k
’19
$514k
’20
$1.7M
’21
$123k
’22
−$937k
’23
−$42k
’24
−$130k
’25
7.0
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

Hannah Song

Chief executive officer

Board chair

Aaron Werner

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed8812141415141414
Joined·+2+4+3+2+5+4+2+0
No longer listed·20124520
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $612k → $1.9M.

20 of 78 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 LINK GLOBAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 78 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

LINK GLOBAL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

54% 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 LINK GLOBAL.

23%
largest funder
49%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 34% · 2019 33% · 2020 34% · 2021 23% · 2022 18% · 2023 24% — 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

33% of LINK GLOBAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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

52% of LINK GLOBAL's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $7.3M that is directly attributable, 95% of it comes from funders outside California, across 21 states.

WA
ID
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
NV
PA
NJ
RI
CA
DE
AZ
KS
TN
NC
DC
AL
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. $8.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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

LINK GLOBAL is better cushioned than half of the 798 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−3% · below the median
Months of reserve7.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 798 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like LINK GLOBAL

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

70% of spending goes to programs.

Program 70%Management 13%Fundraising 17%

Governance

12
board members
92%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LINK GLOBAL: 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 LINK GLOBAL?
LINK GLOBAL (California) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,318,595 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,537,175). 48 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does LINK GLOBAL have?
IRS filings report 78 organizations giving $15,318,595 in grants to LINK GLOBAL, 48 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of LINK GLOBAL?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,537,175 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like LINK GLOBAL 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 Link Global →

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 78 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing