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California · Nonprofit

RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL

RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL (California) receives grants from 86 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,392,957 to it, the largest being THE GALEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($445,035). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.2M
Funders on record
86
Grants received
$3.4M
Net assets
$2.7M
63/86 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 52%
01What it does

What Rancho Mirage Writers Festival does

Mission

To organize an annual festival for writers and readers within the city of rancho mirage and to raise funds to accomplish that goal.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The Rancho Mirage Writers Festival is a world-class gathering of writers, thinkers, and readers who come together to celebrate the power of ideas and the beauty of the written word. Each year, the festival brings literary giants, emerging voices, and thought leaders to the desert for engaging conversations, inspiring discussions, and unforgettable moments.known as the "coachella for the brain," the festival offers audiences the rare opportunity to hear from bestselling authors, pulitzer prize winners, and influential voices across literature, politics, history, and culture-all in an intimate and welcoming setting.

    $2,161,652 spentof which $50,000 as grants$465,020 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,161,652.

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 ($1.1M) Expenses 100 ($1.2M) Net assets 100 ($526k)2018 Revenue 126 ($1.4M) Expenses 95 ($1.1M) Net assets 154 ($811k)2019 Revenue 190 ($2.1M) Expenses 138 ($1.6M) Net assets 260 ($1.4M)2020 Revenue 250 ($2.8M) Expenses 185 ($2.2M) Net assets 382 ($2.0M)2021 Revenue 40 ($452k) Expenses 36 ($422k) Net assets 388 ($2.0M)2022 Revenue 29 ($324k) Expenses 41 ($488k) Net assets 335 ($1.8M)2023 Revenue 242 ($2.7M) Expenses 219 ($2.6M) Net assets 361 ($1.9M)2024 Revenue 273 ($3.1M) Expenses 232 ($2.7M) Net assets 437 ($2.3M)2025 Revenue 284 ($3.2M) Expenses 241 ($2.8M) Net assets 522 ($2.7M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (284)Expenses (241)Net assets (522)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 2018 to 2019, from $1.3M to $2.1M (+68%).

$913k
$1.3M
$2.1M
$2.5M
$2.6M
$2.3M
$2.3M
$2.5M
$3.3M
'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

82% of RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,360 orgs

Surplus & reserves

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

−$48k
’17
$309k
’18
$518k
’19
$643k
’20
$30k
’21
−$164k
’22
$157k
’23
$348k
’24
$371k
’25
13
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

Aaron Espinosa

Executive director

Board chair

Jamie Kabler

Chairman/president

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed777777777
Joined·+0+1+0+0+2+1+0+0
No longer listed·01002100
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 42 funders, grant income rose $87k → $717k.

18 of 86 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 86 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

RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 14 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 14 funders to its left

27% 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 RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL.

13%
largest funder
27%
top three
~27
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 35% · 2018 22% · 2019 10% · 2020 14% · 2021 14% · 2022 59% · 2023 14% — 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

29% of RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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

52% of RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL's grant income comes from California funders.

AK
WA
IL
WI
MI
MA
OR
OH
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MO
TN
LA
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. $813k arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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

RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin12% · above the median
Months of reserve12.6mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)14% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL

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 24%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
67%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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

CA

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • City of Rancho Mirage · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL: 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 RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL?
RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL (California) receives grants from 86 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,392,957 to it, the largest being THE GALEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($445,035). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL have?
IRS filings report 86 organizations giving $3,392,957 in grants to RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL, 63 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL?
THE GALEN FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $445,035 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL 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 86 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