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California · Nonprofit

Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,814,998 to it, the largest being THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS INC ($800,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$662k
Funders on record
27
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$123k
14/27 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 47%
01What it does

What Southern Exposure does

Mission

Southern Exposure (SoEx) is an artist-centered non-profit organization that is committed to supporting visual artists. Through our extensive and innovative programming, SoEx strives to experiment, collaborate and further educate while providing an extraordinary resource center and forum for Bay Area and national artists and youth in our Mission District space and off-site, in the public realm. An active presence in the Bay Area since 1974, SoEx is continually evolving in response to the needs of artists and the community while engaging the public in artists' work. Central to our mission is to remain the most accessible space for visual artists to produce and present new work, learn, and connect. SoEx provides visual artists with the tools and resources they need to experiment in an open and supportive environment. We also work to advocate to new, diverse audiences and build an ever-growing community of enthusiasts and supporters of the visual arts.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Projects, Events and Exhibitions Program offers visual artists the opportunity to work in formats and contexts that extend and challenge their artistic development and offers exposure to new audiences. Our Offsite Program supports artists in creating temporary interventions into public life, encouraging them to consider public space as a place for creative expression.

    $171,062 spent$190,721 earned by the program
    42% of program spending
  2. Alternative Exposure Grant Program, a major re-granting initiative created in partnership with the Warhol Foundation, offered $65,000 in grants in 2024 to independent groups working in the visual arts.

    $117,273 spentof which $65,000 as grants
    29% of program spending
  3. The Artists in Education Program is a dynamic cultural framework with a mission to provide at-risk and socio-economically disadvantaged Bay Area youth access and enrichment through the visual arts.

    $114,037 spent
    28% of program spending
  4. Other programs

    $7,340 spent
    2% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $409,712.

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 ($655k) Expenses 100 ($741k) Net assets 100 ($302k)2018 Revenue 76 ($496k) Expenses 82 ($607k) Net assets 63 ($191k)2019 Revenue 114 ($749k) Expenses 82 ($605k) Net assets 111 ($335k)2020 Revenue 83 ($544k) Expenses 84 ($625k) Net assets 84 ($253k)2021 Revenue 139 ($911k) Expenses 99 ($734k) Net assets 143 ($431k)2022 Revenue 109 ($711k) Expenses 116 ($857k) Net assets 94 ($284k)2023 Revenue 137 ($896k) Expenses 110 ($816k) Net assets 120 ($364k)2024 Revenue 101 ($662k) Expenses 122 ($903k) Net assets 41 ($123k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (101)Expenses (122)Net assets (41)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 2023 to 2024, from $490k to $194k (−60%).

$346k
$250k
$387k
$308k
$463k
$485k
$490k
$194k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 11% · 2018 18% · 2019 18% · 2020 39% · 2021 23% · 2022 25% · 2023 31% · 2024 25%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

70% of Southern Exposure’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$87k
’17
−$111k
’18
$143k
’19
−$81k
’20
$177k
’21
−$147k
’22
$80k
’23
−$241k
’24
1.5
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

Elizabeth Brodersen

Int. Exec Dir.

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1112131117141515
Joined·+4+3+1+8+1+4+7
No longer listed·3232437
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $21k → $319k.

10 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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 Southern Exposure’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

Southern Exposure leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

41% 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 Exposure.

44%
largest funder
72%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 52% · 2019 33% · 2020 59% · 2021 44% · 2022 45% · 2023 47% — 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

45% of Southern Exposure's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

Southern Exposure draws 80% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.

NY
OH
PA
CA
KY

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. $706k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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

Southern Exposure's funding base is broadening — from 7 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−36% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.5mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)0% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Government funding Southern Exposure receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $156k on record — $155k federal, $1k state.

Federal$155k
grants $155kcontracts $0
17
20
21
23
24
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$155k
State$1k
19
20
21
22
23
Top programs
  • REFUNDS - GENERAL $1k

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 Southern Exposure

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

45% of spending goes to programs.

Program 45%Management 35%Fundraising 19%

Governance

12
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

81%

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 Southern Exposure: 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 Southern Exposure?
Southern Exposure (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,814,998 to it, the largest being THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS INC ($800,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Southern Exposure have?
IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $1,814,998 in grants to Southern Exposure, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Southern Exposure?
THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS INC is the largest funder on record, with $800,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Southern Exposure 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 Exposure →

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 27 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