California · Nonprofit
Project Optimism Inc
Project Optimism Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $196,921 to it, the largest being The Nonprofit Partnership ($50,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $197k
- Net assets
- $568k
What Project Optimism Inc does
Mission
Project Optimism, Inc.'s mission is to be the catalyst that will properly equip community members with an optimistic mindset, to be productive contributors to society.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Project Optimism Mentoring Sessions (POMS) model is designed to align youth in the community with mentors who are representative of their identity. During the program, students are able to engage in activities, workshops, and be exposed to career/professionals, and receive scholarships. Through these efforts we expect students to develop socially, emotionally, decrease truancy and suspension and have a commitment to their educational journey.
$1,241,143 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,241,143.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $204k to $610k (+199%).
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 15% · 2024 61% · 2025 90%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Project Optimism Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
Josef Gray
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $5k → $5k.
3 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 Optimism Inc’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 Optimism Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 25% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
96% 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 Optimism Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2022 97% · 2023 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
69% of Project Optimism Inc's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $26k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Project Optimism Inc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,299 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,299 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Project Optimism Inc
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 Project Optimism Inc: 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 Project Optimism Inc?
- Project Optimism Inc (California) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $196,921 to it, the largest being The Nonprofit Partnership ($50,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Project Optimism Inc have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $196,921 in grants to Project Optimism Inc, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Project Optimism Inc?
- The Nonprofit Partnership is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Project Optimism Inc 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 Optimism →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing