California · Nonprofit
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO (California) receives grants from 302 organizations whose IRS filings report $59,554,384 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($16,145,981). 192 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $40M
- Funders on record
- 302
- Grants received
- $60M
- Net assets
- $33M
What Southern California Public Radio does
Mission
The mission of Southern California Public Radio is to strengthen the civic and cultural bonds that unite southern california's diverse communities by providing the highest quality news and information across multiple platforms. We are a public forum that engages its audiences in an ongoing dialogue and exploration of issues, events, and cultures in the region and in the world. We seek to provide greater understanding and new perspectives to the people of these communities and their leaders.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Southern California Public Radio (laist) delivers independent, fact-based local news that helps people across southern california understand their communities, navigate complex systems, and live their best lives. Our reporters tell stories that you can't find anywhere else---holding powerful individuals accountable, focusing on solutions for difficult problems and creating opportunities for people to connect.
$22,686,636 spent$298,060 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $22,686,636.
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 $32M to $45M (+39%).
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: 2017 4% · 2018 7% · 2019 6% · 2020 3% · 2021 6% · 2022 13% · 2023 5% · 2024 5% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Drew Murphy
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 84 funders to 113 funders, grant income rose $6.5M → $6.7M.
26 of 302 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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: $2.3M from 14 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles). These are real filings, and they are not money SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO raised.
From the IRS filings of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 302 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
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
63% 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 26% · 2019 34% · 2020 31% · 2021 42% · 2022 27% · 2023 24% — 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
46% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
56% of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 570 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 570 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO
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
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 5 related entities
- American Public Media Group · exempt
- Minnesota Public Radio · exempt
- Clearspring Holdings Inc · corp_trust
- Clearspring Enterprises Inc · corp_trust
- Clearspring Studios · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: 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 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO?
- SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO (California) receives grants from 302 organizations whose IRS filings report $59,554,384 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($16,145,981). 192 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO have?
- IRS filings report 302 organizations giving $59,554,384 in grants to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO, 192 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO?
- CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $16,145,981 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO 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 Southern California Public Radio →
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 302 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