California · Nonprofit
MARA FOUNDATION
MARA FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $502,000 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($500,000). 0 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
- $247k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $502k
- Net assets
- $40k
What Mara Foundation does
Mission
Mara Foundation's general objectives are charitable and educational within the meaning of internal revenue code section 501(c)(3). Its mission is to create a community that identifies, encourages, and promotes the interests of promising young persons in literature, film, art, science, politics, music and other academic fields through educational forums, symposia, networking with mentors and established professionals and others in similar fields. Mara Foundation also promotes the cause of women's rights both in and outside the united states and fosters public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of women in literature, screenwriting, directing, playwriting, and other artistic fields through educationalevents, symposia, and other means.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The january 2025 event - casa majani punta de mita in mexicoset within an isolated villa compound in the mexican countryside, the january 2025 jericho event is a week-long wellbeing and personal development retreat designed to provide support for young artists working in literature, film, art, music, and beyond using creativity to unlock confidence. By hosting sessions which gather young creatives to share past experiences and consider future pathways, attendees are given the tools they need to be resilient in the entertainment industry. The participants leave the academy with a strengthened sense of self and purpose, prepared to become part of a support system for their peers who may be facing abuse, harassment, substance misuse, or the intense demands of public-facing careers. At a jericho event, each day is designed to promote a wholistic understanding of mind, body, soul, and community. Each day starts with movement and breath exercises with a tai chi session, aiming to ground the participants in the present moment. These tools are taught to help participants develop emotional regulation and remember the importance of slowing down with intention, key to being able to manage…
$102,814 spent47% of program spendingThe august 2025 event - jericho somerset in united kingdomset within a nature reserve in the uk countryside, the august 2025 jericho event is a multi-day wellness and creative retreat designed for fostering emerging voices in literature, film, art, music, and beyond; sharing ideas; and training leaders and role models for younger talent in those areas. The jericho event aims to identify, encourage, and empower children and young adults not only in their talents, but in their ability to sustain a creative life with resilience, clarity, and community, and to instill those values in and offer support for younger persons in the arts and entertainment world. Central to this mission is preparing children and young adults actively working in the arts to have and become part of a support system for peers and younger creatives who may be facing abuse, harassment, substance misuse, or the intense demands of public-facing careers.at jericho, each day's rhythm is designed to promote a participant's understanding of their responsibilities, inner stability, outer engagement, and creative accountability to themselves and their work. Each day begins with movement and breath with a yoga practice…
$116,231 spent53% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $219,045.
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 2023 to 2024, from $11k to $67k (+495%).
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.
100% of MARA FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $2k → $500k.
1 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 MARA FOUNDATION’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
MARA FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 100% 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 MARA FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 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 MARA FOUNDATION'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 $2k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $500k 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
MARA FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MARA FOUNDATION
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
34%
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 MARA FOUNDATION: 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 MARA FOUNDATION?
- MARA FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $502,000 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ($500,000). 0 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 MARA FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $502,000 in grants to MARA FOUNDATION.
- Who is the largest funder of MARA FOUNDATION?
- AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MARA FOUNDATION 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 Mara →
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 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