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California · Nonprofit

MEDIA ALLIANCE

MEDIA ALLIANCE (California) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,259,191 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($1,400,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$1.5M
Funders on record
41
Grants received
$4.3M
Net assets
$1.5M
11/41 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 64%
01What it does

What Media Alliance does

Mission

MA was founded with the belief that in order to ensure the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas necessary to maintain a truly democratic society, media must be accessible, accountable, decentralized, representative of society's diversity and free from covert or overt government control and corporate dominance. MA dedicates itself to fostering a genuine diversity of media voices and perspectives, holding the media accountable for their impact on society and protecting freedom of speech.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Provide grassroots education and raise public awareness on communications policy, governmental transparency, freedom of expression, privacy and media accountability using the website, email blasts and public speaking.

    $809,650 spent$996,500 earned by the program
    76% of program spending
  2. Provide media skills training and publicity assistance for grassroots and community organizations

    $145,743 spent$160,111 earned by the program
    14% of program spending
  3. Fiscally sponsor related projects that have not yet achieved independent corporate status. List follows: The Book of Vaughn (documentary film), The Frisc (hyper-local news site), Obscured (podcast), WhistleBlower Network News (informational website), Tikun Olam (informational website), Golden Hills Inclusive Education Foundation (public education), Bloc by Block (hyper-local news site), Out in the Bay (podcast), Elevate Media (media services), ACorrection (podcast), Thy Neighbor (documentary film), Oakland Workers Fund (public education), RepCo (public education), Mutiny Radio (podcast), Underwater Transformational Photography Project (photography), Apparel for Activism (public education), Searching for Kapwa (documentary film), Climate Money Watchdog (informational website), OpenArchive (software), Our Town, Reno (hyer-local news site), Trans Bloom (cultural support), On Spec (podcast), New Energy Times (public education), Late Bloom (documentary film), Bay Area Action History Project (public education), Greetings from St Helena (short film), Carmel Mission (documentary film), You Approached With Such Ambivalence (short film),Social Justice Writing Club at George Washington High…

    $105,800 spent$117,780 earned by the program
    10% of program spending
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,061,193.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($245k) Expenses 100 ($250k) Net assets 100 ($140k)2018 Revenue 80 ($195k) Expenses 77 ($192k) Net assets 102 ($143k)2019 Revenue 97 ($237k) Expenses 90 ($224k) Net assets 111 ($156k)2020 Revenue 147 ($360k) Expenses 137 ($342k) Net assets 124 ($173k)2021 Revenue 404 ($988k) Expenses 212 ($528k) Net assets 453 ($633k)2022 Revenue 655 ($1.6M) Expenses 435 ($1.1M) Net assets 824 ($1.2M)2023 Revenue 783 ($1.9M) Expenses 620 ($1.5M) Net assets 1088 ($1.5M)2024 Revenue 608 ($1.5M) Expenses 590 ($1.5M) Net assets 1099 ($1.5M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (608)Expenses (590)Net assets (1099)Peer revenue range

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 $633k to $1.2M (+85%).

$172k
$162k
$156k
$173k
$633k
$1.2M
$1.6M
$1.5M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 4% · 2023 4% · 2024 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

80% of MEDIA ALLIANCE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,395 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$5k
’17
$3k
’18
$13k
’19
$18k
’20
$460k
’21
$518k
’22
$370k
’23
$15k
’24
13
months of
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

Al Kielwasser

Chair of the Board

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed65555765
Joined·+0+0+0+0+2+0+0
No longer listed·1000011
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $54k → $381k.

18 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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 MEDIA ALLIANCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 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

MEDIA ALLIANCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

78% 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 MEDIA ALLIANCE.

33%
largest funder
77%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 87% · 2018 48% · 2020 87% · 2021 44% · 2022 58% · 2023 39% — 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.

How long its funders stay

20% of MEDIA ALLIANCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 27% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

69% of MEDIA ALLIANCE'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 $1.3M that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from funders outside California, across 8 states.

IL
NY
PA
NJ
CA
DE
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

MEDIA ALLIANCE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin1% · below the median
Months of reserve12.5mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)29% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like MEDIA ALLIANCE

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

72% of spending goes to programs.

Program 72%Management 21%Fundraising 7%

Governance

5
board members
80%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MEDIA ALLIANCE: 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.

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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 MEDIA ALLIANCE?
MEDIA ALLIANCE (California) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,259,191 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($1,400,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does MEDIA ALLIANCE have?
IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $4,259,191 in grants to MEDIA ALLIANCE, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of MEDIA ALLIANCE?
GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like MEDIA ALLIANCE 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 41 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing