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California · Nonprofit

Safer DIY Spaces Inc

Safer DIY Spaces Inc (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $664,259 to it, the largest being GRAY AREA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS ($331,879). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$104k
Funders on record
6
Grants received
$664k
Net assets
$133k
4/6 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 55%
01What it does

What Safer DIY Spaces Inc does

Mission

Safer DIY Spaces provides free technical guidance, construction supplies and labor, and legal support to low-income tenants and artists living and/or working in non-code compliant buildings. Our goals are life-safety improvements and compassionate code enforcement

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. This year, we actively preserved 52,000 square feet of affordable space for arts and community programming, including affordable live/work space for 40 artists in Oakland and San Francisco. We subsidized emergency repairs and professional fees, advised on life safety hazards and abatement, consulted on navigating code enforcement challenges, and performed due diligence work. Our members also participated in consortia about arts real estate acquisitions and artist housing in California, and provided technical guidance on impactful policy changes at local and state levels.

    $43,811 spent$53,358 earned by the program
    89% of program spending
  2. Fiscal sponsorship for Rogers & Rosewater Soup Kitchen and Love Bite Bakers - which provide meals and other necessities for unhoused individuals in the Oakland area.

    $5,684 spent
    11% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $49,495.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($271k) Expenses 100 ($259k) Net assets 100 ($24k)2020 Revenue 65 ($177k) Expenses 62 ($161k) Net assets 165 ($40k)2021 Revenue 95 ($258k) Expenses 113 ($292k) Net assets -3 ($-682)2022 Revenue 114 ($308k) Expenses 95 ($247k) Net assets 454 ($109k)2023 Revenue 90 ($244k) Expenses 84 ($217k) Net assets 574 ($138k)2024 Revenue 71 ($193k) Expenses 63 ($162k) Net assets 555 ($133k)2025 Revenue 38 ($104k) Expenses 23 ($59k) Net assets 553 ($133k)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (38)Expenses (23)Net assets (553)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 2021 to 2022, from $37k to $136k (+266%).

$32k
$73k
$37k
$136k
$206k
$153k
$162k
2019202020212022202320242025
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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 18% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

49% of Safer DIY Spaces Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$12k
’19
$16k
’20
−$34k
’21
$62k
’22
$26k
’23
$31k
’24
$45k
’25
12
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

Sarah Lockhart

Exec. Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

201920212022202320242025
Listed665776
Joined··+0+2+0+0
No longer listed··1001
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $60k → $50k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
Pro Arts Incunclassified
$94k
$20k
funders
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
1

2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 Safer DIY Spaces 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

Safer DIY Spaces Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

100% 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 Safer DIY Spaces Inc.

50%
largest funder
87%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 70% · 2020 52% · 2022 95% · 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

100% of Safer DIY Spaces Inc's grant income comes from California funders.

CA

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $216k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

Safer DIY Spaces Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin43% · top quartile
Months of reserve11.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−15% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Safer DIY Spaces 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

84% of spending goes to programs.

Program 84%Management 14%Fundraising 2%

Governance

7
board members
86%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

74%

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 Safer DIY Spaces 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.

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 Safer DIY Spaces Inc?
Safer DIY Spaces Inc (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $664,259 to it, the largest being GRAY AREA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS ($331,879). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Safer DIY Spaces Inc have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $664,259 in grants to Safer DIY Spaces Inc, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Safer DIY Spaces Inc?
GRAY AREA FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS is the largest funder on record, with $331,879 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Safer DIY Spaces 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 Safer DIY Spaces →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 6 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