California · Nonprofit
MAKE PROJECTS
MAKE PROJECTS (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,163,726 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES ($294,395). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $737k
What Make Projects does
Mission
Empower refugee and immigrant women and youth with the job readiness skills to achieve their dreams.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Job readiness program: in order to build the confidence and job skills of our immigrant and refugee participants, Make Projects offers an eight to twelve week job readiness program in a restaurant and urban farm training platform. Participants have the opportunity to gain real, paid work experience that goes on their resume and helps them learn skills that they could apply to future jobs, build their confidence and communication skills and learn cultural norms of the working environment in the united states. This experience is vital in helping participants secure a job after graduating from Make Projects job readiness program. This applied learning environment is very beneficial for lower literacy refugee and immigrant women who are not familiar with classroom based learning and different cultural norms. Participants in the job readiness program are paid minimum wage while being trained on the job in a real world setting by Make Projects staff. All the participants work on site at the restaurant and farm located at 3725 30th street in san diego, california, subsequently relocated to 2920 university avenue in san diego, california. As an organization, 75 percent of our staff time…
$884,222 spent75% of program spendingEducation and career counseling staff provide a variety of individual and group trainings and services to counsel and coach participants about how to find and secure a job,american work culture norms and how to succeed on the job. The education and career counseling provided by Make Projects is an essential part of helping participants build their confidence and gain meaningful employment. These educational activities and career counseling programs are provided by employees of Make Projects who have specific knowledge in social work and early employment. As an organization, 15 percent of our staff time is allocated to these activities and the employment placement services described below. The funding is primarily through public and private grants, and some donation income. This activity is important to ensure that Make Projects beneficiaries attain the primary goal of our organization which is a permanent, unsubsidized job out in the community.
$176,844 spent$274,498 earned by the program15% of program spendingEmployment services: when a participant is close to finishing the job readiness program, Make Projects will assist the participant in seeking permanent employment elsewhere. This includes helping the participant search for and apply for jobs, job interview preparation, regular meetings and support in the first weeks and months at their new job. In addition, Make Projects will coach participants and teach them other skills to stay meaningfully employed. For example, Make Projects will coach participants on how to effectively manage their time, find childcare, and have efficient and dependable transportation. Employment services account for 10 percent of our total staff time.
$117,896 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,178,962.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2023 to 2024, from $1.0M to $1.3M (+24%).
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: 2023 22% · 2024 54%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
83% of MAKE PROJECTS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (16% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 2 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
Angie Anchi Mei
Executive director
Board chair
Lorenza Rivero
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 9 funders, grant income rose $3k → $548k.
3 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 MAKE PROJECTS’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
MAKE PROJECTS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
63% 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 MAKE PROJECTS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2023 39% — 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.
Where its funders are
75% of MAKE PROJECTS's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $283k 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.
Against its field
MAKE PROJECTS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,551 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,551 employment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like MAKE PROJECTS
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MAKE PROJECTS: 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 MAKE PROJECTS?
- MAKE PROJECTS (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,163,726 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES ($294,395). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MAKE PROJECTS have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $1,163,726 in grants to MAKE PROJECTS, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MAKE PROJECTS?
- FOUNDATION FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES is the largest funder on record, with $294,395 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MAKE PROJECTS 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 Make Projects →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2023–2024), and the filings of 16 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