California · Nonprofit
San Diego Council on Literacy
San Diego Council on Literacy (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $832,881 to it, the largest being The San Diego Foundation ($509,606). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
Against its field
San Diego Council on Literacy's revenue fell 53% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,857 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Countiesshared funderslocalportfolio match
- East County Economic Development Councillocalportfolio match
- United Way of San Diego Countylocalportfolio match
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.
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: 2019 2% · 2020 2% · 2021 2% · 2022 7% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of San Diego Council on Literacy’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 12 funders, grant income fell $160k → $79k.
3 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 San Diego Council on Literacy’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 26 of 27 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
San Diego Council on Literacy leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
69% 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 San Diego Council on Literacy.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 83% · 2019 97% · 2020 80% · 2021 61% · 2022 33% · 2023 38% — 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
36% of San Diego Council on Literacy's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
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
66% of San Diego Council on Literacy's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $282k that is directly attributable, 53% of it comes from funders outside California, across 7 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $551k 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 27 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Countiesshared funderslocalportfolio matchCA · backs 39 organizations that share your funders · funds 112 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- East County Economic Development Councillocalportfolio matchCA · funds 223 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- United Way of San Diego Countylocalportfolio matchCA · funds 58 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundationshared funderslocalCA · backs 115 organizations that share your funders · funds 157 organizations near you
- Wish You Well Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Seiu Local 221portfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- San Diego Tijuana World Design Capital 2024portfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Clare Rose Foundation Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Dr Seuss Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- French Fund Samuel Katherine Tuashared fundersMO · backs 86 organizations that share your funders
- The Conrad Prebys Foundationshared funderslocalCA · backs 184 organizations that share your funders · funds 380 organizations near you
- The William Hall Tippett and Ruth Rathell Tippett Foundationshared fundersCA · backs 44 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like San Diego Council on Literacy
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Public support
100%
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 San Diego Council on Literacy: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds San Diego Council on Literacy?
- San Diego Council on Literacy (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $832,881 to it, the largest being The San Diego Foundation ($509,606). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does San Diego Council on Literacy have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $832,881 in grants to San Diego Council on Literacy, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of San Diego Council on Literacy?
- The San Diego Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $509,606 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like San Diego Council on Literacy 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 27funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing