California · Nonprofit
SPARK
SPARK (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $989,042 to it, the largest being QUEST FOUNDATION ($260,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2019
- $119k
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $989k
- Net assets
- $56k
What Spark does
Mission
Spark seeks to advance gender equality by engaging the next generation in accessible forms of philanthropy.
As stated on its FY2019 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Educating about gender equality and philanthropy:Spark's programming was reduced in 2019 because in september 2019 Spark formally began the process of winding up and dissolving as an independent nonprofit corporation. At the beginning of 2020, Spark will join forces with global fund for women. However, while still carrying out programming in the first half of 2019, Spark continued its mission of educating young people about gender equality and philanthropy. The most significant program during that period was "the future is female" kickoff event featuring madame gandhi, who spoke to Spark members about the importance of equal gender representation in all walks of life, from music to politics.
The first program described on its most recent Form 990-EZ.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $159k to $59k (−63%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 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
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 18 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $180k → $720.
4 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 SPARK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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
SPARK has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 25% · 2019 52% · 2020 40% · 2021 93% · 2022 100% · 2023 69% — growing more concentrated.
“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
9% of SPARK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 39% 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
71% of SPARK's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $82k 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.
Organizations like SPARK
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.
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPARK: 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 SPARK?
- SPARK (California) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $989,042 to it, the largest being QUEST FOUNDATION ($260,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPARK have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $989,042 in grants to SPARK, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPARK?
- QUEST FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $260,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPARK 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 Spark →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2019 (financials across 2017–2019), and the filings of 36 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