California · Nonprofit
Sierra College Foundation
Sierra College Foundation (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,839,049 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($400,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $21M
What Sierra College Foundation does
Mission
Provide our community the opportunity to invest in the development of quality educational opportunities for all at sierra joint community college district. Raise funds in support of our students and college programs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Sierra College Foundation provides members of the community the opportunity to assist and invest in the development of quality educational opportunities for sierra joint community college students. In concert with the college and the community it serves, the foundation commits itself to work toward educational excellence by identifying donor resources to support a learning environment enriched by diversity, which promotes personal and professional success, leadership, innovation, responsibility, and a sense of community. Some of the highlights include: the guardian scholar program offers comprehensive financial and educational support to emancipated youth attending sierra joint community college to ensure their educational success. Sierra College Foundation raises funds to support sierra joint community college in developing a culture of innovation and experimentation with a goal of improving the lives of students, families, and our community. Sierra College Foundation raises funds to offer financial aid to veterans attending sierra joint community college, in the form of book vouchers, gas cards, emergency funds, etc. Sierra College Foundation raises funds to support students…
$1,054,610 spentof which $899,146 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,054,610.
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 2020 to 2021, from $11M to $15M (+34%).
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 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of Sierra College Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Sonbol Aliabadi
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $192k → $197k.
9 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $691k from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Sutter Valley Hospitals). These are real filings, and they are not money Sierra College Foundation raised.
From the IRS filings of Sierra College Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
Sierra College Foundation has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% 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
73% 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 Sierra College Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 32% · 2019 27% · 2020 43% · 2021 21% · 2022 15% · 2023 18% — 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
50% of Sierra College Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
74% of Sierra College Foundation's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
Sierra College Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Sierra College Foundation receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $198k on record.
- Department of Commerce$198k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Sierra College Foundation
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
71%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Sierra Joint Community College District · exempt
- Associated Students of Sierra College · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Sierra College Foundation: 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 Sierra College Foundation?
- Sierra College Foundation (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,839,049 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($400,000). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sierra College Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $2,839,049 in grants to Sierra College Foundation, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sierra College Foundation?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sierra College Foundation 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 40 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