California · Nonprofit
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS (California) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,646,943 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($450,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $562k
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $43k
What San Francisco Public Press does
Mission
The mission of the San Francisco Public Press is to enrich civic life by publishing investigative and solutions journalism that engages diverse audiences and promotes public accountability. The San Francisco Public Press (sfpublicpress.org) is a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization that produces independent public-interest journalism about under-covered topics, with a focus on under-served audiences. Online and via community radio station KSFP-LP, broadcasting on 102.5 FM in San Francisco, we offer local investigative and solutions reporting. Coverage areas include environmental protection, housing affordability, public health, transportation safety, homeless services, digital privacy, immigration and elections. For every local election, we produce a comprehensive, multimedia nonpartisan voter guide.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The San Francisco Public Press (sfpublicpress.org) is a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization that produces independent public-interest journalism about under-covered topics, with a focus on under-served audiences. Online and on community radio station KSFP 102.5 FM, we offer local investigative and solutions reporting. Coverage areas include environmental protection, housing affordability, public health, transportation safety, homeless services, digital privacy, immigration and elections. For every local election, we produce a comprehensive, multimedia nonpartisan voter guide. (San Francisco did not hold any elections in 2023; we returned to this work in 2024.) In 2023, "Civic," our local public policy interview podcast and radio show, produced two seasons, with in-depth reporting and highly produced episodes. For "Civic," investigative reporter Sylvie Sturm and producer Liana Wilcox produced a six-part series on San Francisco's overdose crisis: Part I (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/san-franciscos-fatal-overdose-crisis-was-decades-in-the-making/), Part 2 (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/sf-failing-on-housing-as-overdose-solution-health-expert-says/), Part 3…
$341,035 spent$142 earned by the program100% of program spendingThe San Francisco Public Press served in a very limited capacity as fiscal sponsor for Mission Local. The following details are repeated on Schedule I, Part I, Line 2: From 2018 through 2022, we monitored the use of grant funds by Mission Local through regular conversations - at least monthly - with Lydia Chavez, executive director of Mission Local. In 2018 we began fiscally sponsoring Mission Local, a news organization focusing on San Francisco's Mission District. Mission Local's journalistic work is in a similar educational vein as the Public Press's and is aligned with our charitable purpose. Mission Local, a legally incorporated entity, filed for and received its own 501c3 in late 2022, after which the organization began receiving and managing its own grants and donations directly. In 2023, the Public Press received a small number of donations intended to support the work of Mission Local from donors who did not realize that the organization had received its own 501c3 status. All donations received by the Public Press and distributed to Mission Local in 2023 were used to pay staff salaries and freelance journalists.
$0 spentof which $5,700 as grants0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $341,035.
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 2021 to 2022, from $190k to $56k (−71%).
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: 2021 2% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $119k → $252k.
10 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 53% 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 FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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 FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
61% 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 FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 49% · 2019 36% · 2020 23% · 2021 20% · 2022 25% · 2023 40% — 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
53% of SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS'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
53% of SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS'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 $1.2M that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside California, across 10 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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.
Against its field
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS has grown faster than half of the 22,838 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,838 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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 FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS: 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 SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS?
- SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS (California) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,646,943 to it, the largest being THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ($450,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 53% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $2,646,943 in grants to SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS?
- THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $450,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC PRESS 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 32 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