California · Nonprofit
LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS
LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,500 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($15,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $33M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $16k
- Net assets
- $25M
What Literacy First Charter Schools does
Mission
Literacy First Charter Schools exists to nurture the whole child from kindergarten through high school graduation by igniting a passion for comprehensive literacy and equipping each child to wholeheartedly participate in their community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Operation of a public charter school serving students in grades k to 12: literacy first views education as a process, not a product, which enables students to go from learning to read, to reading to learn. Lfcs desires to shape literate, life-long learners, independent thinkers, technologically literate citizens, enthusiastic and highly qualified teachers, reliable assessments that provide students a productive educational experience, aspiring leaders who positively impact their community, community that understands and supports the mission of lfcs.
$23,542,316 spent$503,447 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $23,542,316.
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 2019 to 2020, from $18M to $26M (+47%).
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: 2017 93% · 2018 96% · 2019 94% · 2020 98% · 2021 99% · 2022 97% · 2023 109% · 2024 97% · 2025 97%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Debbie Beyer
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $0 → $15k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS’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
LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 97% 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
100% 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 LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2023 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
97% of LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS'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 $500 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS
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
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Literacy First Charter School Issuer LLC · disregarded
- 698 West Main Street LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS: 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 LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS?
- LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,500 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($15,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $15,500 in grants to LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS?
- THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $15,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LITERACY FIRST CHARTER SCHOOLS 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 Literacy First Charter Schools →
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