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California · Nonprofit

START SOCO

START SOCO (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $268,066 to it, the largest being The Mental Insight Foundation ($115,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$112k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$268k
Net assets
$35k
9/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 38%
01What it does

What Start Soco does

Mission

The mission of ArtStart is to inspire artistic creativity and illuminate the connections among people, ideas, and the environment, through engaging artists, children, families, and communities in quality arts education experiences.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Programs

  1. Artstart provided aspiring young artists in Sonoma County the opportunity to create public art that is placed throughout our communities, while learning professional skills and building a portfolio. Professional artists guided young artists though the process of meeting with clients, designing and creating the project, and installing the work. This project was the Recology TRASH program.

    $5,409 spentof which $16,899 as grants
    39% of program spending
  2. Artstart provided aspiring young artists in Sonoma County the opportunity to create public art that is placed throughout our communities, while learning professional skills and building a portfolio. Professional artists guided young artists though the process of meeting with clients, designing and creating the project, and installing the work. This project was a mural in Graton, CA called "Rails and Trails".

    $5,807 spentof which $14,000 as grants
    41% of program spending
  3. Artstart provided aspiring young artists in Sonoma County the opportunity to create public art that is placed throughout our communities, while learning professional skills and building a portfolio. Professional artists guided young artists though the process of meeting with clients, designing and creating the project, and installing the work. This project was a mural for Oak Grove School in Graton, CA

    $2,791 spentof which $8,000 as grants
    20% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $14,007.

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 ($86k) Expenses 100 ($125k) Net assets 100 ($48k)2019 Revenue 168 ($145k) Expenses 116 ($145k) Net assets 50 ($24k)2020 Revenue 183 ($158k) Expenses 111 ($139k) Net assets 86 ($42k)2021 Revenue 223 ($193k) Expenses 140 ($175k) Net assets 192 ($93k)2022 Revenue 278 ($240k) Expenses 204 ($255k) Net assets 160 ($77k)2023 Revenue 128 ($110k) Expenses 96 ($119k) Net assets 142 ($68k)2024 Revenue 127 ($109k) Expenses 124 ($155k) Net assets 46 ($22k)2025 Revenue 130 ($112k) Expenses 80 ($99k) Net assets 72 ($35k)
'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (130)Expenses (80)Net assets (72)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 2020 to 2021, from $42k to $93k (+123%).

$49k
$24k
$42k
$93k
$77k
$68k
$23k
$35k
'17'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2022 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

57% of START SOCO’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as 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.

−$39k
’17
−$374
’19
$19k
’20
$18k
’21
−$16k
’22
−$9k
’23
−$46k
’24
$12k
’25
3.6
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.

Board chair

Linda Ortiz

Board President

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $8k → $41k.

2 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 START SOCO’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

START SOCO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% 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

43%
largest funder
72%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 47% · 2019 95% · 2020 32% · 2021 34% · 2022 53% · 2023 74% — 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

50% of START SOCO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

100% of START SOCO's grant income comes from California funders.

CA

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. $44k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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

START SOCO runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin11% · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like START SOCO

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.

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

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for START SOCO: 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 START SOCO?
START SOCO (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $268,066 to it, the largest being The Mental Insight Foundation ($115,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does START SOCO have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $268,066 in grants to START SOCO, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of START SOCO?
The Mental Insight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $115,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like START SOCO 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 Start Soco →

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 12 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