Skip to content

California · Nonprofit

SELF-ESTEM

SELF-ESTEM (California) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,490,357 to it, the largest being GOLDEN STATE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($882,612). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$561k
Funders on record
21
Grants received
$1.5M
Net assets
$166k
9/21 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 95%
01What it does

What Self-Estem does

Mission

Self-eSTEM ignites pride, purpose and possibility among girls and women, by providing STEM training that strengthens digital, technical and leadership skills, sustaining their STEM identities.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Self-eSTEM Early STEM Immersion Program provides hands-on, project-based learning in STEM, coding, robotics, AI, and digital literacy for girls, providing the early technical exposure and strengthens STEM identity, laying the foundation for future workforce opportunities. Self-eSTEMs Innovator Sustainment Program and Future of Work - Community-Based Program provides workforce development programming for young women, gaining technical skills, career navigation support, and access to income-generating pathways connected to emerging workforce demands and high growth sectors. Across these multi-year programs, participants receive mentoring and coaching that sustains STEM identity.

    $275,371 spent$560,822 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $275,371.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($118k) Expenses 100 ($83k) Net assets 100 ($45k)2018 Revenue 98 ($116k) Expenses 140 ($116k) Net assets 0 ($0)2019 Revenue 98 ($117k) Expenses 104 ($86k) Net assets 134 ($61k)2020 Revenue 115 ($136k) Expenses 67 ($56k) Net assets 312 ($141k)2021 Revenue 188 ($223k) Expenses 160 ($132k) Net assets 512 ($231k)2022 Revenue 177 ($209k) Expenses 322 ($266k) Net assets 386 ($174k)2023 Revenue 222 ($263k) Expenses 345 ($286k) Net assets 336 ($152k)2024 Revenue 359 ($425k) Expenses 561 ($464k) Net assets 250 ($113k)2025 Revenue 474 ($561k) Expenses 613 ($507k) Net assets 369 ($166k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (474)Expenses (613)Net assets (369)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 2020 to 2021, from $143k to $239k (+67%).

$47k
$0
$62k
$143k
$239k
$179k
$159k
$120k
$191k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of SELF-ESTEM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (73% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,446 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$36k
’17
$350
’18
$31k
’19
$80k
’20
$90k
’21
−$57k
’22
−$23k
’23
−$39k
’24
$54k
’25
4.5
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

Adamaka Ajaelo

Executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

201720212022202320242025
Listed977554
Joined··+0+0+0+1
No longer listed··0202
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $25k → $213k.

6 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 77% 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 SELF-ESTEM’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

SELF-ESTEM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

88% 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 SELF-ESTEM.

59%
largest funder
75%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 44% · 2020 74% · 2021 38% · 2022 37% · 2023 62% — 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

38% of SELF-ESTEM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

77% of SELF-ESTEM'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 $343k that is directly attributable, 61% of it comes from funders outside California, across 7 states.

VT
NY
MA
CA
NC
DC
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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

SELF-ESTEM has grown faster than three-quarters of the 850 unclassified nonprofits its size.

Operating margin10% · above the median
Months of reserve4.5mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)21% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 850 unclassified nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like SELF-ESTEM

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

54% of spending goes to programs.

Program 54%Management 36%Fundraising 9%

Governance

4
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SELF-ESTEM: 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 SELF-ESTEM?
SELF-ESTEM (California) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,490,357 to it, the largest being GOLDEN STATE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($882,612). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 77% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does SELF-ESTEM have?
IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,490,357 in grants to SELF-ESTEM, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of SELF-ESTEM?
GOLDEN STATE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $882,612 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like SELF-ESTEM 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 Self-Estem →

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 21 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