California · Nonprofit
MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC
MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC (California) receives grants from 84 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,340,338 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($4,000,000). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 84
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Meals-On-Wheels Greater San Diego Inc does
Mission
Meals on wheels san diego county's mission is to support the independence and well-being of seniors who choose to age in their home or for those that are unable to afford quality institutional care and must remain at home. Many seniors experience chronic illnesses and disabilities that often make activities of daily living difficult. Means on wheels san diego county is part of the community safety net serving older adults in the home with care services that include the delivery of up to two fresh meals a day, daily safety checks (with referral to other social services if necessary) and a friendly visit.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Meals on wheels san diego county serves all of san diego county, including the 3,049 square miles of rural and unincorporated areas. Of all seniors served, 85% are considered extremely low to low income according to the 2023 income guidelines by the department of housing and urban development (hud). We subsidize more than 63% of the costs of meals, delivery, and other services provided, regardless of a senior's ability to pay. Further subsidies are provided for seniors who are experiencing severe financial difficulties. For fiscal 2025 (tax year 2024), we served 4,476 homebound seniors throughout san diego county with 709,311 meals, daily safety checks and friendly visits using 3,956 trained volunteers who donated 118,653 hours driving over 690,000 miles. We also provided "animeals'" to 466 senior pet companions during this period. Meals on wheels clients report improved health, security and independence. For millions of americans, meals on wheels programs across the country are literally the difference between remaining in their own homes and needing to relocate to a nursing facility. The nutritious meal, friendly visit and safety check help them cope with three of the biggest…
$10,364,987 spent$2,580,734 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,364,987.
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. 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 $15M to $30M (+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: 2017 2% · 2018 1% · 2019 3% · 2020 3% · 2021 1% · 2022 2% · 2023 1% · 2024 5% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Brent Wakefield
President and CEO
Board chair
Margaret Malowney
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $162k → $1.4M.
18 of 84 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 72% 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 MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 84 funders by total. 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
MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 39% 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
88% 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 MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 18% · 2018 13% · 2019 30% · 2020 32% · 2021 89% · 2022 44% · 2023 40% — 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
43% of MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
72% of MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC'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 $2.9M that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside California, across 17 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 191 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 191 food & nutrition nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
84%
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 MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC: 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 MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC?
- MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC (California) receives grants from 84 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,340,338 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($4,000,000). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 72% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC have?
- IRS filings report 84 organizations giving $10,340,338 in grants to MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC, 55 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $4,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MEALS-ON-WHEELS GREATER SAN DIEGO INC 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 Meals-On-Wheels Greater San Diego →
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 84 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