California · Nonprofit
MARSHMALLOW MINDS
MARSHMALLOW MINDS (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $510,017 to it, the largest being VALLEY HEALTH FOUNDATION (VHF) ($149,200). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $211k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $510k
- Net assets
- $94k
What Marshmallow Minds does
Mission
Our mission is to ignite a lifelong love of learning through engaging STEAM education. Too many students especially in under-resourced schools and communities do not have access to the knowledge and skills necessary for STEAM-enabled careers. We envision a world where all students have equal access to high-quality engaging STEAM education that nurtures lifelong curiosity creativity and collaborative spirit paving the way for success in their future careers.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Free Outreach In-School Program: Marshmallow Minds partners with Title-1 schools that serve children from under-resourced communities and offers free in-school STEAM education services.
$151,573 spentof which $52,384 as grants84% of program spendingAfter-school and Summer Fee-Based Program: Marshmallow Minds partners with schools and offers after-school and summer STEAM education services for a fee.
$17,000 spent$19,799 earned by the program9% of program spendingFee-Based In-School Program: Marshmallow Minds partners with schools and offers in-school STEAM education services for a fee.
$12,000 spent$11,675 earned by the program7% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $180,573.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2022 to 2023, from $66k to $196k (+199%).
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 53% · 2024 19% · 2025 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of MARSHMALLOW MINDS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 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
Harini Senthilvasan
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $26k → $233k.
7 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 62% 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 MARSHMALLOW MINDS’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
MARSHMALLOW MINDS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
92% 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 MARSHMALLOW MINDS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 48% · 2021 69% · 2022 38% · 2023 64% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
How long its funders stay
100% of MARSHMALLOW MINDS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
62% of MARSHMALLOW MINDS'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 $192k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $318k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
MARSHMALLOW MINDS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like MARSHMALLOW MINDS
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
Public support
90%
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 MARSHMALLOW MINDS: 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 MARSHMALLOW MINDS?
- MARSHMALLOW MINDS (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $510,017 to it, the largest being VALLEY HEALTH FOUNDATION (VHF) ($149,200). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 62% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MARSHMALLOW MINDS have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $510,017 in grants to MARSHMALLOW MINDS, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MARSHMALLOW MINDS?
- VALLEY HEALTH FOUNDATION (VHF) is the largest funder on record, with $149,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MARSHMALLOW MINDS 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 Marshmallow Minds →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 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