California · Nonprofit
POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY
POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY (California) receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,927,923 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($2,550,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $200M
- Funders on record
- 121
- Grants received
- $9.9M
- Net assets
- $155M
What Point Loma Nazarene University does
Mission
Point Loma Nazarene University exists to provide higher education in a vital christian community where minds are engaged and challenged, character is modeled and formed, and service becomes an expression of faith. We aspire to be a learning community where grace is foundational, truth is pursued, and holiness is a way of life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instructional activities, including student aid, prepare students to address the complex issues facing our world today with integrity and forward thinking. Plnu graduates enter the workforce prepared to influence our world for good. Plnu serves more than 4,800 students offering more than 50 undergraduate areas of study and 12 graduate programs throughout southern california.
$94,457,076 spentof which $48,589,371 as grants$161,696,747 earned by the program59% of program spendingAcademic support bolsters plnu students' academic experience through resources like the tutorial center, plnu's ryan library, information technology services, and media and technology.
$40,102,636 spentof which $10,939,921 as grants$1,522,633 earned by the program25% of program spendingStudent services enriches the student experience and resources like the offices of strengths and vocation, the wellness center, outdoor leadership and recreation, spiritual development, and student financial services.
$25,892,356 spent$25,929,135 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $160,452,068.
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 2020 to 2021, from $200M to $231M (+16%).
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: 2019 0% · 2020 2% · 2021 1% · 2022 3% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
4% of POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
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.
Board chair
Douglas Pierce
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 36 funders, grant income rose $537k → $654k.
25 of 121 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $732k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Point Loma Nazarene University Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY raised.
From the IRS filings of POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 121 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
POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
43% 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 POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 13% · 2019 25% · 2020 32% · 2021 33% · 2022 42% · 2023 18% — 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
30% of POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY draws 58% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 26 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY's funding base is broadening — from 20 funders to 36 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $16.5M on record — $16.5M federal, $9k state.
- Department of Education$15.8M
- Department of Defense$691k
- DISTRIBUTION TO INDIVIDUALS$9k
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 POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Point Loma Nazarene University Foundation · exempt
- Charitable Remainder Unitrust (4) · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Trust (3) · corp_trust
- Pooled Income Fund (4) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY: 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 POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY?
- POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY (California) receives grants from 121 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,927,923 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($2,550,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 121 organizations giving $9,927,923 in grants to POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,550,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 121 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