California · Nonprofit
OPEN CALIFORNIA
OPEN CALIFORNIA (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $101,500 to it, the largest being THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT ($100,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $463k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $102k
- Net assets
- $230k
What Open California does
Mission
Open Californias Mission is to inform, enlighten and educate Californians about public policy and state governance, and to provide a platform for engagement with public officials, advocates and political interests.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Produced five public policy conferences addressing criminal justice policy, journalism, ballot initiatives, health care and the results of the 2024 election. Over 1000 people attended the conferences in person or via zoom. Video and podcasts of each event were made available at capitolweekly.net and other sites. Maintained and produced materials for capitolweekly. Net, an online publication which covers elections, proposed changes to state law, decisions about infrastructure and regulations, politics and personalities, and policies related to education, health care, public safety, the environment and more. Capitolweekly. Net had nearly 650,000 pageviews in 2024.produced and distributed the roundup newsletter, which is distributed via email five days per week to approximately 5,200 subscribers. The roundup collects and summarizes news stories related to california public policy.produced video oral histories of leona egeland rice, robert hertzberg, don novey, richard polanco & garry south. These films are available for free public viewing at the capitol weekly website.produced more than 50 episodes of the capitol weekly podcast, which were played over 22,500 times. Produced and…
$361,188 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $361,188.
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 $434k to $286k (−34%).
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: 2021 12% · 2022 20%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of OPEN CALIFORNIA’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. 3 of the last 8 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
2017 → 2020: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $26k → $25k.
From the IRS filings of OPEN CALIFORNIA’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
OPEN CALIFORNIA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 96% · 2019 100% · 2020 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 OPEN CALIFORNIA's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
OPEN CALIFORNIA's revenue grew 28% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like OPEN CALIFORNIA
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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPEN CALIFORNIA: 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 OPEN CALIFORNIA?
- OPEN CALIFORNIA (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $101,500 to it, the largest being THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT ($100,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPEN CALIFORNIA have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $101,500 in grants to OPEN CALIFORNIA, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPEN CALIFORNIA?
- THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPEN CALIFORNIA 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 Open California →
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 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