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California · Nonprofit

PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION

PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 147 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,919,819 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($2,922,667). 85 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$7.2M
Funders on record
147
Grants received
$16M
Net assets
$17M
85/147 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 29%
01What it does

What Promises2kids Foundation does

Mission

Creating a brighter future for foster children.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The following is a brief description of the foundation's programs:a.b. And jessie polinsky children's center - previously the foundation raised $12 million to build the a.b.and jessie polinsky children's center (the polinsky center), san diego county's emergency shelter for abused and neglected children. In october 1994, the foundation deeded the facility to the county. The polinsky center offers a full range of assessment and care programs to more than 1,000 children every year. The foundation continues to support the polinsky center by raising funds for the urgent and long-term needs of the young residents during their stay. The following are just a few examples of the programs and projects at the polinsky center supported by the foundation during the year ended june 30, 2025. See schedule o for additional details. Kidstart youth2youth advocates program pet therapy program health, recreation, and wellness programguardian scholars - guardian scholars is a scholarship and support program that was established to assist current and former foster youth to further their education or prepare for a career and become successful, independent adults. The program is much more than just…

    $7,876,996 spentof which $1,530,351 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,876,996.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($3.9M) Expenses 100 ($3.7M) Net assets 100 ($6.9M)2018 Revenue 117 ($4.5M) Expenses 112 ($4.2M) Net assets 108 ($7.5M)2019 Revenue 146 ($5.7M) Expenses 141 ($5.2M) Net assets 115 ($8.0M)2020 Revenue 223 ($8.7M) Expenses 151 ($5.6M) Net assets 159 ($11M)2021 Revenue 210 ($8.1M) Expenses 151 ($5.6M) Net assets 223 ($15M)2022 Revenue 266 ($10M) Expenses 178 ($6.6M) Net assets 251 ($17M)2023 Revenue 242 ($9.4M) Expenses 216 ($8.0M) Net assets 281 ($20M)2024 Revenue 181 ($7.0M) Expenses 258 ($9.6M) Net assets 262 ($18M)2025 Revenue 185 ($7.2M) Expenses 272 ($10M) Net assets 241 ($17M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (185)Expenses (272)Net assets (241)

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 $12M to $16M (+40%).

$7.3M
$10M
$12M
$12M
$16M
$18M
$20M
$19M
$17M
'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: 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 1% · 2021 5% · 2022 4% · 2023 2% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$168k
’17
$369k
’18
$424k
’19
$3.0M
’20
$2.5M
’21
$3.7M
’22
$1.4M
’23
−$2.6M
’24
−$2.9M
’25
3.6
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

Tonya Torosian

CEO

Board chair

Brett Pernicano

Board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed201619222427262426
Joined·+5+7+4+5+7+4+5+6
No longer listed·94134574
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 29 funders to 58 funders, grant income rose $853k → $2.7M.

20 of 147 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 147 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

PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left

54% 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 PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION.

18%
largest funder
32%
top three
~16
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 27% · 2019 27% · 2020 51% · 2021 28% · 2022 17% · 2023 19% — 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

46% of PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

79% of PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.

WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
NV
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
MO
VA
DE
NC
DC
TX
FL

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. $6.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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

Organizations like PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION

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

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 3%Fundraising 19%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

93%

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 PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION: 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.

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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 PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION?
PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 147 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,919,819 to it, the largest being THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION ($2,922,667). 85 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 147 organizations giving $15,919,819 in grants to PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION, 85 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION?
THE SAN DIEGO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,922,667 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like PROMISES2KIDS FOUNDATION 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 147 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