Missouri · Nonprofit
OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL
OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL (Missouri) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,000 to it, the largest being MASONIC HOME OF MISSOURI ($30,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $30k
- Net assets
- $5.1M
What Optimist International does
Mission
By providing hope and positive vision, optimists bring out the best in youth, our communities and ourselves.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Optimist International is an association which provides operational support to approximately 2,000 optimist clubs around the world dedicated to "bringing out the best in youth." adult volunteers join optimist clubs to conduct positive service projects in their communities aimed at providing a helping hand to youth. With their upbeat attitude, optimist club members help empower young people to be the best that they can be. Each optimist club determines the needs of the young people in its community and conducts programs to meet those needs. Every year, optimists conduct roughly 65,000 service projects and serve well over five million people.
$2,473,182 spent$3,771,207 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,473,182.
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 2022 to 2023, from $4.0M to $5.0M (+25%).
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 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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
Cheryl Brenn
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
Left out of every figure on this page: $439k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Optimist International Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL raised.
From the IRS filings of OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 1 of 2 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.
Where its funders are
100% of OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
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.
Organizations like OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Optimist International Youth Programs Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL: 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 OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL?
- OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL (Missouri) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,000 to it, the largest being MASONIC HOME OF MISSOURI ($30,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $30,000 in grants to OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL.
- Who is the largest funder of OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL?
- MASONIC HOME OF MISSOURI is the largest funder on record, with $30,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), 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