California · Nonprofit
SCHOLARMATCH INC
SCHOLARMATCH INC (California) receives grants from 84 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,614,463 to it, the largest being RIC & SUZANNE KAYNE FOUNDATION ($3,375,475). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 84
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $6.4M
What Scholarmatch Inc does
Mission
Scholarmatch's mission is to support underserved first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds to earn a bachelor's degree within five years, providing virtual individualized advising, targeted financial support, and career mentoring from high school through college.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Destined for college (college access): our destined for college program provides college access counseling to 1,058 low-income high school students applying to college. Starting the spring of their junior year of high school, scholarmatch students are matched with a volunteer college coach who works 1:1 with them for a full year. Volunteer coaches receive robust training from scholarmatch and support students through all aspects of the college application process - from choosing where to apply, to writing personal statements, to evaluating financial aid. Students also receive access to college access workshops, and other community resources designed specifically for low-income and first-generation students. On average our students submit 6 college applications and have 100% college acceptance rate.
$1,796,272 spent59% of program spendingScholars program (college success): students who successfully complete the destined for college program become eligible to apply to the scholars program, which currently serves 246 students. Scholarmatch scholars are matched with a professional college advisor on staff who provides year-round advising and will receive up to $25,000 in targeted financial support, including student loan repayment, emergency funds, and more. A total of $1,271,663 was provided in scholarships this year. Students also participate in workshops to support their wellbeing, academic performance, and career readiness, and may request to be matched to a volunteer career coach as they continue through college. 98% of our scholars persist across multiple years and 80% of our students in the full scholarmatch program graduate within five years. The average gpa of our scholars is 3.31.
$1,271,663 spentof which $1,271,663 as grants41% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,067,935.
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 2019 to 2020, from $2.8M to $7.6M (+177%).
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 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of SCHOLARMATCH INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Karla Salazar
Executive director
Board chair
Karen Grace-Baker
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $1.8M → $2.9M.
18 of 84 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 SCHOLARMATCH INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 84 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
SCHOLARMATCH INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
54% 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 SCHOLARMATCH INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 47% · 2019 36% · 2020 30% · 2021 27% · 2022 21% · 2023 19% — 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
43% of SCHOLARMATCH INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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 SCHOLARMATCH INC's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M 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.
Against its field
SCHOLARMATCH INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like SCHOLARMATCH 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% 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 SCHOLARMATCH 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.
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 SCHOLARMATCH INC?
- SCHOLARMATCH INC (California) receives grants from 84 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,614,463 to it, the largest being RIC & SUZANNE KAYNE FOUNDATION ($3,375,475). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SCHOLARMATCH INC have?
- IRS filings report 84 organizations giving $24,614,463 in grants to SCHOLARMATCH INC, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SCHOLARMATCH INC?
- RIC & SUZANNE KAYNE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,375,475 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SCHOLARMATCH 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 Scholarmatch →
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 84 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