California · Nonprofit
PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS
PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $301,115 to it, the largest being GIRARD FOUNDATION ($73,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $65k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $301k
- Net assets
- $112k
What Partners in College Success does
Mission
Partners in College Success (PiCS) ensures equal access to higher education and an equitable college experience for low-income, refugee, immigrant, foster, homeless and disadvantaged youth in San Diego County. PiCS provides dedicated, persistent, and personalized support applying to college, completing a degree, and securing career employment. PiCS is currently the only free college and career guidance organization focused on East County San Diego, serving socioeconomically disadvantaged youth aged 12-25. East County is the #2 refugee resettlement location in the U.S. and is ranked as 4th most socioeconomically disadvantaged region in California. Of our students, 85% live below the poverty line with non-English speaking parents, 98% are first-generation Americans. Ethnicity demographics are: 45% refugees from the Middle East, 42% Latinx, 6% African-American, 5% Asian, 2% White; 65% are female, 35% male, and 95% are on government assistance.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
PiCS HIGH SCHOOL helps low income, first-generation, foster, and homeless youth prepare for access and fund college education. PiCS High School is our access program. We work with first-generation, low-income high school students in virtual and on-campus classrooms to prepare for, apply to, fund, and commit to a 2- or 4-year college program. Partnered with Grossmont Union High School District, we offer personalized college consulting, application expertise, and one-on-one college essay coaching both during and after school hours, which is critical for students working after school to support their families. Additionally, we focus heavily on financial aid guidance, FAFSA completion, and scholarship applications. Because 85% of our students are in the < $25k annual income bracket, financial aid is a critical component. Very limited resources and programs exist in East County/El Cajon where more than 21,000 high school students rely on a 653:1 student-to-counselor ratio. Poverty rates at many of these area high schools are extremely high: 93% of the students at El Cajon Valley High School are socioeconomically disadvantaged; 55% at El Capitan, 53% at Grossmont, 52% at Valhalla, and…
$21,877 spentof which $21,877 as grants32% of program spendingPiCS COLLEGE supports student population from college access to degree completion and first jobs. Support includes financial, academic, professional, and personal education. PiCS College is our success program. A student's need for support doesn't end with college commitment. Once admitted to college, first-generation, low income (FGLI) students face a number of factors that threaten their ability to remain in school - such as food insecurity, the need to take on full- or part-time work, academic failure, and doubts of belonging. Furthermore, selecting majors and career tracks are extremely difficult without professional role models in their lives. Because many students are reluctant to ask, we employ proactive support to assist in solving academic, financial, and personal issues so students can persist to degree completion. We hold professional mentorship through annual events, 1v1 help with resumes, cover letters, and interviewing, and together develop plans to secure paid internships and ultimately career employment upon graduation. All efforts help ensure that students graduate from college career-ready. Currently, a team of 45 mentors support 140 students throughout their…
$25,979 spentof which $25,979 as grants38% of program spendingPiCStem provides STEM curriculum, mentors, field trips, and role models to 6th - 10th grade for at-risk Latinx youth. PiCStem is our middle school program where students engage in STEM-related in-person and virtual workshops and field trips. Our main area of focus is San Diego's East region, where El Cajon's poverty rate is the highest in the County at 24.2%, with one in three children living in poverty. First-generation, low-income (FGLI) students lack critical information about their options for college and career. College students from our PiCS College program, who grew up in the same impoverished neighborhoods, become mentors in our PiCStem program, providing role models, information, and inspiration to at-risk middle schoolers growing up in low-income, non-English speaking homes. PiCStem introduces the students to many well-paying STEM-related careers in San Diego during the formative years of 6th-10th grade. Meeting college role models who grew up in the same neighborhood with the same barriers is both informative and inspiring. It is paramount to expose our youth to STEM, where employment has grown 79% since 1990 and is projected to grow 10.8% between 2021-2031, compared to…
$20,510 spentof which $16,656 as grants30% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $68,366.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $101k to $114k (+14%).
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.
87% of PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (65% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $54k → $37k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS’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
PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% 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
37% 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 PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 68% · 2020 100% · 2021 71% · 2022 40% · 2023 52% — 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 PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 60% 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
85% of PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $78k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS has grown faster than half of the 17,277 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,277 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS
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.
Public support
59%
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 PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS: 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 PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS?
- PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $301,115 to it, the largest being GIRARD FOUNDATION ($73,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $301,115 in grants to PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS?
- GIRARD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $73,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PARTNERS IN COLLEGE SUCCESS 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 Partners in College Success →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 10 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