California · Nonprofit
LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION
LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,552 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SAN LUIS OBISPO ($7,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $54k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $8k
- Net assets
- $152k
What Literacy for Life Organization does
Mission
The Literacy for Life Organization transforms the community, empowering individuals by removing barriers to success and strengthening relationships through the power of literacy. 1. Reach out to all adults needing reading, writing, speaking, listening, and computing skills. 2. Recruit and train volunteer tutors to deliver free quality instruction to meet the literacy needs of adult learners. 3. Enlisting the support of the county's community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educational services to adults 16 and older who want to learn or improve their english language literacy skills. Trained volunteer tutors to provide instruction in basic english language literacy skills to adults 16 and older.
$9,319 spent66% of program spendingEducational services to adults 16 and older who want to learn or improve their english language literacy skills. Trained volunteer tutors to provide instruction in basic english language literacy skills to adults 16 and older.
$4,835 spent34% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,154.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $472k to $252k (−46%).
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: 2021 91% · 2022 67% · 2023 53% · 2024 21% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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
Bernadette Bernardi
CEO
Board chair
William A Herreras
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $8k → $16.
2 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION’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 FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% 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 FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 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
100% of LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8k 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.
Organizations like LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION
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
9% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION: 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 FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION?
- LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,552 to it, the largest being THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SAN LUIS OBISPO ($7,500). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $7,552 in grants to LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION?
- THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SAN LUIS OBISPO is the largest funder on record, with $7,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LITERACY FOR LIFE ORGANIZATION 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 for Life Organization →
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