California · Nonprofit
RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES
RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $321 to it, the largest being Illumina Corporate Foundation ($172). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $46M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $321
- Net assets
- $32M
What River Islands Academies does
Mission
To provide each student with a safe, supportive, character building, orderly educational environment in which each student can achieve his/her potential through specialized technology based curriculum and experimental learning opportunities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Operation of four (4) public charter schools in san joaquin county serving students from transitional kindergarten (tk) to 10th grade. The schools include: next generation steam academy (grades tk-8), river islands technology academy ii (grades k-8), epic academy (grades tk-8), and river islands high school (grades 9-11). We believe students learn best in educational environments providing real life opportunities to explore, understand and apply the concepts and skills necessary to become independent problem solvers. Students have the opportunity to explore and experience numerous career pathways in technology.
$38,033,580 spent$601,036 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $38,033,580.
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 2022 to 2023, from $19M to $27M (+45%).
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: 2017 80% · 2018 95% · 2019 96% · 2020 87% · 2021 94% · 2022 97% · 2023 88% · 2024 96% · 2025 98%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Brenda Scholl
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023, and between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $172 → $99.
From the IRS filings of RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES’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
RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 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
RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $83k on record.
- Department of Education$83k
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 RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES: 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 RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES?
- RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $321 to it, the largest being Illumina Corporate Foundation ($172). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $321 in grants to RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES.
- Who is the largest funder of RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES?
- Illumina Corporate Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $172 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RIVER ISLANDS ACADEMIES 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 River Islands Academies →
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 3 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