California · Nonprofit
Maker Education Initiative
Maker Education Initiative (California) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,364,712 to it, the largest being TIDES CENTER ($364,461). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $207k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $1.4M
- Net assets
- $134k
What Maker Education Initiative does
Mission
The mission of Maker Ed is to transform teaching and learning through making.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Maker education at Academy of Innovative Arts.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
We deliver maker education programming at the Academy of Innovative Arts in Sonoma County, California.We write a weekly newsletter for maker educators using the Substack platform.We host online education forums for maker educators.
$125,539 spent$1,429 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $125,539.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2021 to 2022, from $883k to $28k (−97%).
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: 2020 10% · 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Maker Education Initiative’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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.
Board chair
Dale Dougherty
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2022: the base narrowed from 9 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $916k → $187k.
8 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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 Maker Education Initiative’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
Maker Education Initiative has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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
72% 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 Maker Education Initiative.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 40% · 2021 53% · 2022 31% — 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
55% of Maker Education Initiative'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 $615k that is directly attributable, 54% of it comes from funders outside California, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $749k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Maker Education Initiative runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,482 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,482 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Maker Education Initiative
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
40%
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 Maker Education Initiative: 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 Maker Education Initiative?
- Maker Education Initiative (California) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,364,712 to it, the largest being TIDES CENTER ($364,461). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Maker Education Initiative have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $1,364,712 in grants to Maker Education Initiative, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Maker Education Initiative?
- TIDES CENTER is the largest funder on record, with $364,461 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Maker Education Initiative 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 15 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