California · Nonprofit
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,140,211 to it, the largest being MORRIS AND ALMA SCHAPIRO FUND ($230,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.0M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Mechanics' Institute does
Mission
Founded in 1854, Mechanics' Institute is a thriving cultural hub in downtown san francisco. Its mission is to create opportunities for people to enhance their lives by gaining useful knowledge, skills, and experiences in sharing ideas with others.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Library - Mechanics' Institute maintains a collection of more than 100,000 books and periodicals, as well as provides research support and archival resources for approximately 2,000 members. The library offers various programs including: classes on library resources, training and technical assistance, genealogy workshops, special lectures and events, and game nights. The two floor library provides a quiet and spacious environment for intellectual pursuits. Weekly tours are offered to the public free of charge. Library visitors in fiscal year amounted to approximately 18,600.
$1,556,889 spent$10,703 earned by the program94% of program spendingChess room - the chess room offers programs for children and adults, including: classes, lectures, tournaments, chess in the community, after school programs in both private and public schools (including title I), and chess camps for youth. Mechanics' Institute also sponsors a grandmaster in residence for consultation and support for chess players. Mechanics' chess club holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating chess club in the united states. Chess tournament players in fiscal year amounted to approximately 4,500.
$77,044 spent$453,596 earned by the program5% of program spendingPrograms & events - Mechanics' Institute hosts educational and cultural events for members and the general public, including: classes, book groups, writing groups and classes, author talks, lectures, panel discussions on current events, musical programs including jazz and chamber concerts, and movie nights showing classic films. Program attendees in fiscal year amounted to approximately 5,100.
$23,227 spent$55,841 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,657,160.
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.
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 $21M to $18M (−13%).
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: 2024 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Katherine Bella
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $37k → $141k.
5 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 MECHANICS' INSTITUTE’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
MECHANICS' INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
58% 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 MECHANICS' INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 46% · 2019 31% · 2020 48% · 2021 30% · 2022 35% · 2023 36% — 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
33% of MECHANICS' INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
53% of MECHANICS' INSTITUTE'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 $537k that is directly attributable, 80% of it comes from funders outside California, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $603k 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.
Government funding MECHANICS' INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $700k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$700k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MECHANICS' INSTITUTE
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
59% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
43%
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 MECHANICS' INSTITUTE: 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 MECHANICS' INSTITUTE?
- MECHANICS' INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,140,211 to it, the largest being MORRIS AND ALMA SCHAPIRO FUND ($230,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does MECHANICS' INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,140,211 in grants to MECHANICS' INSTITUTE, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MECHANICS' INSTITUTE?
- MORRIS AND ALMA SCHAPIRO FUND is the largest funder on record, with $230,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MECHANICS' INSTITUTE 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 Mechanics' Institute →
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 20 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