California · Nonprofit
STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION
STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,291,451 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,105,232). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 90
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $21M
What Starlight Children's Foundation does
Mission
Since 1983, starlight has been delivering happiness to seriously ill children and their families.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Starlight has elected to characterize the various programs by which it provides toys, gaming units, hospital gowns and other goods to hospitalized children as one all-encompassing program to align with the statement of functional expenses reporting format. In addition, the organization is collaborating in a new program, prescription for play, which was not listed on the prior year's form 990. This program supports pediatric patients during visits to their doctors by providing medically appropriate toys and play-based resources that promote healing and development. Collaborating with the lego group and the weitzman institute (the innovation and research arm of the moses/weitzman health system, a 501(c)(3)), starlight participates in the process of "prescribing play" to reduce stress, encourage learning, and improve patient outcomes.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Starlight programs: starlight aims to deliver happiness to hospitalized children and their families. Carefully crafted to address the unique needs of pediatric patients, starlight's vital programs including starlight nintendo gaming, starlight virtual reality, starlight hospital gowns, and starlight toy deliveries provide comfort, distraction, and a sense of normalcy to kids coping with hospitalization. The impact of these programs reaches even further to the families and caregivers, creating a supportive community that nurtures kids when they need it most.
$12,957,681 spentof which $10,616,772 as grants$146,149 earned by the program93% of program spendingPrescription for play: starlight is proud to collaborate with the lego group and the weitzman institutes' "prescription for play program" to recognize the critical role of play in early childhood development. Participating in this program, starlight helps integrate play into the entire healthcare journey to support child development and positive patient engagement. The weitzman institute (the innovation and research arm of the moses/weitzman health system, a 501(c)(3)) provides funding to starlight to facilitate the distribution of prescription for play lego kits to pediatric offices across the u.s. During healthcare visits. Public contributions to starlight are not used to complete this distribution activity.
$1,042,938 spentof which $1,042,938 as grants7% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $14,000,619.
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 2021 to 2022, from $15M to $19M (+22%).
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: 2020 6% · 2021 5% · 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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
Adam Garone
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $105k → $1.1M.
19 of 90 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 90 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
STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
88% 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 STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 41% · 2019 92% · 2020 51% · 2021 59% · 2022 16% · 2023 38% — 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
31% of STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
54% of STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $4.7M that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from funders outside California, across 25 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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 STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S 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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S 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 STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION?
- STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,291,451 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($3,105,232). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 90 organizations giving $10,291,451 in grants to STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $3,105,232 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STARLIGHT CHILDREN'S 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 90 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