California · Nonprofit
Special Service for Groups Inc
Special Service for Groups Inc (California) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,678,847 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($5,494,050). 51 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $264M
- Funders on record
- 93
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $49M
What Special Service for Groups Inc does
Mission
Special Service for Groups, ("SSG"), is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing community-based solutions to the social and economic issues facing those in the greatest need. SSG has evolved into a model organization which is designed to provide service to diverse groups with maximum efficiency and impact. This is achieved by developing and managing programs which serve our many communities by encouraging their involvement and self-sufficiency. SSG believes that the needs of groups and individuals cross traditional ethnic, racial, and other cultural boundaries. SSG serves as a bridge between people with common needs to identify ways to pool resources for the greatest good of all.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Homeless Services: Street outreach to homeless individuals, youth and families. Services include permanent and transitional housing placement, emergency shelter, case management, job training and transportation assistance. In addition, Homeless Services Programs includes a full service portal to serve individuals/families in South L.A. with multiple co-location sites to maximize outreach.
$124,731,144 spentof which $24,640,749 as grants54% of program spendingMental Health Services: Prevention education and intervention, forensic social services, emotional and psychosocial support, outpatient mental health counseling service, assessment and follow-up treatment for children and family mental illness and substance abuse.
$81,091,824 spentof which $18,233,826 as grants$164,259 earned by the program35% of program spendingJob and Education: Access to Prevention Advocacy Intervention and Treatment (APAIT) is the most comprehensive provider of HIV/AIDS services for API in Southern California. Its history is rooted in advocacy and provides critical services to the most vulnerable in the community during times of crisis and when other support systems are difficult to access. APAIT was able to raise awareness about mental health and help educate individuals in the spirit of community.
$25,967,530 spent11% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $231,790,498.
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 $53M to $103M (+92%).
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 93% · 2018 94% · 2019 95% · 2020 95% · 2021 93% · 2022 95% · 2023 99% · 2024 97% · 2025 98%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Special Service for Groups Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (17% 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
Herbert Hatanaka
Exec. Director/Secretary
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 37 funders, grant income rose $1.7M → $3.1M.
14 of 93 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 Special Service for Groups Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 93 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
Special Service for Groups Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% 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
60% 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 Special Service for Groups Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 40% · 2019 30% · 2020 26% · 2021 59% · 2022 29% · 2023 41% — broadly stable.
“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
29% of Special Service for Groups Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
95% of Special Service for Groups Inc's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M 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
Special Service for Groups Inc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 178 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 178 human services nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding Special Service for Groups Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22.9M on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$19.9M
- Environmental Protection Agency$1.4M
- Department of Justice$1.3M
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$250k
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 Special Service for Groups Inc
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 Special Service for Groups Inc: 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 Special Service for Groups Inc?
- Special Service for Groups Inc (California) receives grants from 93 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,678,847 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($5,494,050). 51 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Special Service for Groups Inc have?
- IRS filings report 93 organizations giving $21,678,847 in grants to Special Service for Groups Inc, 51 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Special Service for Groups Inc?
- CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,494,050 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Special Service for Groups Inc 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 93 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