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California · Nonprofit

PROJECT INDEPENDENCE

PROJECT INDEPENDENCE (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $341,684 to it, the largest being WEINGART FOUNDATION ($175,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.9M
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$342k
Net assets
$5.3M
4/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 3%
01What it does

What Project Independence does

Mission

Provide independent & supported living skills training, supported employment and community based day care for people with developmental disabilities.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Independent & supported living services - life quality and satisfaction assessment for adults with developmental disabilities. Program goal is to provide training and experience to enable clients to function within the community and assess the individual's satisfaction with provided services. Funded by the regional center of orange county. Approximately 103 clients served.

    $1,298,089 spent$1,380,229 earned by the program
    42% of program spending
  2. Behavior support services - positive behavior support plans for adults with developmental disabilities. Program goal is to provide training in the areas of self-help, vocational, and community integration. Funded by the regional center of orange county. Staffing ratios 1:1, 1:3. Approximately 23 clients served.

    $710,580 spent$1,148,155 earned by the program
    23% of program spending
  3. Adult development services - consumer-driven services to support individual goals of adults with developmental disabilities. Program goal is to provide functional community training based on individual needs and choice, as well as integrated supported employment. Staffing ratios 1:4. Funded by the regional center of orange county. Approximately 27 clients served.

    $673,824 spent$745,030 earned by the program
    22% of program spending
  4. Supportive employment services - job placement and coaching to clients who are developmentally disabled. Program goal is to provide job placement and job coaching to enable clients to function within the community. Funded by california department of rehabilition and the regional center of orange county. Approximately 40 clients served.

    $243,405 spent$143,563 earned by the program
    8% of program spending
  5. Work incentive and planning assistance - winning with work incentives is a program designed to help benefits planning, assistance and outreach for persons receiving social security benefits.

    $153,315 spent$267,140 earned by the program
    5% of program spending

The 5 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,079,213.

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 ($5.9M) Expenses 100 ($5.8M) Net assets 100 ($4.2M)2018 Revenue 95 ($5.6M) Expenses 97 ($5.6M) Net assets 99 ($4.1M)2019 Revenue 90 ($5.3M) Expenses 91 ($5.3M) Net assets 99 ($4.1M)2020 Revenue 88 ($5.2M) Expenses 90 ($5.2M) Net assets 96 ($4.0M)2021 Revenue 93 ($5.5M) Expenses 82 ($4.8M) Net assets 113 ($4.7M)2022 Revenue 72 ($4.2M) Expenses 75 ($4.4M) Net assets 110 ($4.6M)2023 Revenue 63 ($3.7M) Expenses 65 ($3.8M) Net assets 108 ($4.5M)2024 Revenue 55 ($3.2M) Expenses 57 ($3.3M) Net assets 105 ($4.4M)2025 Revenue 67 ($3.9M) Expenses 52 ($3.1M) Net assets 127 ($5.3M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (67)Expenses (52)Net assets (127)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 2019 to 2020, from $5.3M to $5.9M (+12%).

$5.6M
$5.5M
$5.3M
$5.9M
$5.8M
$5.6M
$5.3M
$5.0M
$5.6M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

1% of PROJECT INDEPENDENCE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,793 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$51k
’17
−$48k
’18
−$14k
’19
−$95k
’20
$705k
’21
−$137k
’22
−$74k
’23
−$121k
’24
$890k
’25
8.3
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.

Chief executive

Robert Watson

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed11812131211121010
Joined·+0+4+1+2+2+3+0+0
No longer listed·30033220
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $176k → $3k.

4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 PROJECT INDEPENDENCE’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

PROJECT INDEPENDENCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

36% 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 PROJECT INDEPENDENCE.

51%
largest funder
89%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 55% · 2019 50% · 2020 39% · 2021 98% · 2022 98% · 2023 49% — 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

25% of PROJECT INDEPENDENCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 40% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

95% of PROJECT INDEPENDENCE's grant income comes from California funders.

IL
CA
VA

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $124k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

PROJECT INDEPENDENCE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin23% · top quartile
Months of reserve8.3mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−5% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding PROJECT INDEPENDENCE receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.3M on record.

Federal$2.3M
grants $2.3Mcontracts $0
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • Social Security Administration$2.3M

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 PROJECT INDEPENDENCE

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

76% of spending goes to programs.

Program 76%Management 22%Fundraising 1%

Governance

10
board members
90%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

65%

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 PROJECT INDEPENDENCE: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 PROJECT INDEPENDENCE?
PROJECT INDEPENDENCE (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $341,684 to it, the largest being WEINGART FOUNDATION ($175,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does PROJECT INDEPENDENCE have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $341,684 in grants to PROJECT INDEPENDENCE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of PROJECT INDEPENDENCE?
WEINGART FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like PROJECT INDEPENDENCE 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 Project Independence →

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 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