California · Nonprofit
SEW POWERFUL
SEW POWERFUL (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $209,765 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($43,700). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.7M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $210k
- Net assets
- $928k
What Sew Powerful does
Mission
Sew Powerful is a christian ministry serving schools, children, and families in zambia with vocational training and purposeful products, such as reusable feminine hygiene pads, soap, and food.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Purse program - the Sew Powerful purse program is both a women's empowerment initiative, conducted in partnership with local schools, and a girls' empowerment program designed to deliver menstrual health supplies to female students in special health classes. Team members are trained in various roles and are paid for their work to operate the program. During 2024, the organization assisted 31,253 students.
$1,107,080 spentof which $1,054,619 as grants$22,107 earned by the program64% of program spendingFeeding & training program - three program areas. First, we provided approximately 5,000 students a daily lunch at ten local schools. Food is donated by convoy of hope and supplemented by fresh food we produce. We provide funds to employ cooks and coordinators at each school to prepare and serve the meals, as well as to track health outcomes.second, our "3 esthers farm" produces fresh vegetables and orchard fruit that are served to children via the school lunch program.third, the backyard gardens program focuses on teen empowerment by having older teens manage backyard gardens for widows and vulnerable households in our service area.
$548,992 spentof which $547,992 as grants32% of program spendingBuilding program - we are working to complete a new campus in lvingstone zambia, which will provide an expanded sewing co-op, office space, staff housing, guest housing, and space for vocational training.
$47,820 spentof which $47,820 as grants3% of program spendingCosts include cholera response programming as well as general program management expenses.
$26,813 spentof which $23,891 as grants2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,730,705.
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 2022 to 2023, from $464k to $972k (+110%).
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.
99% of SEW POWERFUL’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 7 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
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $6k → $39k.
8 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 SEW POWERFUL’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
SEW POWERFUL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
93% 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 SEW POWERFUL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 97% · 2020 91% · 2021 43% · 2022 63% · 2023 51% — 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
67% of SEW POWERFUL's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 73% 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
93% of SEW POWERFUL'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 $14k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $196k 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
SEW POWERFUL has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SEW POWERFUL
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SEW POWERFUL: 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 SEW POWERFUL?
- SEW POWERFUL (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $209,765 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($43,700). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SEW POWERFUL have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $209,765 in grants to SEW POWERFUL, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SEW POWERFUL?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $43,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SEW POWERFUL 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 Sew Powerful →
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 11 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