Skip to content

California · Nonprofit

StoryCenter

StoryCenter (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $829,946 to it, the largest being SEEDWORKS FUND ($325,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$897k
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$830k
Net assets
$275k
6/17 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%
01What it does

What StoryCenter does

Mission

Our focus is on partnering with community, educational, and business institutions to develop large-scale initiatives using methods and principles adapted from our original StoryCenter Workshop.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. StoryCenter offers a range of services to assist individuals, organizations, and institutions around the world in pursuing their own digital storytelling work.We teach Open Workshops in locations across the U.S. and Canada, and in various cities in Europe. These sessions allow individual participants to explore the creative process of producing their own stories.The majority of our work is carried out in close partnership with a wide range of community, educational, health and human services, international development and business organizations, in the form of Customized Program Development for digital storytelling. This approach allows us to draw upon our expertise as pioneers in the field, as we work closely with clients to identify and meet specific needs in unique contexts around the world.

    $629,667 spent$261,758 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. We are also available for Public Speaking & Story Screenings. Our staff members have great depth of experience in presenting at conferences and sharing stories, exploring the historical, theoretical, methodological, and ethical aspects of digital storytelling, from university to community.Finally, our knowledge of human interface design, interaction design, story and dramatic theory, and the latest tools in digital media production make it possible for us to offer a range of Web/Media Design & Production services.

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $629,667.

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 ($1.0M) Expenses 100 ($928k) Net assets 100 ($169k)2018 Revenue 123 ($1.2M) Expenses 122 ($1.1M) Net assets 167 ($283k)2019 Revenue 115 ($1.2M) Expenses 123 ($1.1M) Net assets 184 ($312k)2020 Revenue 86 ($874k) Expenses 110 ($1.0M) Net assets 97 ($164k)2021 Revenue 109 ($1.1M) Expenses 106 ($986k) Net assets 169 ($287k)2022 Revenue 158 ($1.6M) Expenses 142 ($1.3M) Net assets 339 ($574k)2023 Revenue 133 ($1.4M) Expenses 166 ($1.5M) Net assets 229 ($389k)2024 Revenue 121 ($1.2M) Expenses 144 ($1.3M) Net assets 167 ($282k)2025 Revenue 88 ($897k) Expenses 90 ($834k) Net assets 162 ($275k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (88)Expenses (90)Net assets (162)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 2021 to 2022, from $792k to $1.2M (+55%).

$324k
$490k
$433k
$607k
$792k
$1.2M
$1.1M
$912k
$833k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 4% · 2021 14% · 2022 32% · 2023 36% · 2024 31% · 2025 63%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

70% of StoryCenter’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. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$87k
’17
$113k
’18
$30k
’19
−$148k
’20
$123k
’21
$287k
’22
−$185k
’23
−$106k
’24
$63k
’25
12
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

Brandi Shah

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed577788899
Joined·+3+0+0+3+0+0+1+0
No longer listed·10020000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $73k → $10k.

5 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 StoryCenter’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

StoryCenter leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

36% 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 StoryCenter.

39%
largest funder
76%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 60% · 2019 49% · 2020 60% · 2021 61% · 2022 35% · 2023 100% — 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

44% of StoryCenter's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 35% 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

StoryCenter draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 8 states in all.

IL
NY
OR
RI
CA
DC
LA
TX

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. $271k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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

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

Operating margin7% · above the median
Months of reserve11.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−2% · bottom quartile

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

Government funding StoryCenter receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.3M on record — $1.3M federal, $5k state.

Federal$1.3M
grants $1.2Mcontracts $101k
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • Department of State$1.2M
  • Department of Veterans Affairs$101k
State$5k
Top programs
  • PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NON-IT$5k

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 StoryCenter

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

75% of spending goes to programs.

Program 75%Management 22%Fundraising 2%

Governance

8
board members
75%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

95%

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 StoryCenter: 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 StoryCenter?
StoryCenter (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $829,946 to it, the largest being SEEDWORKS FUND ($325,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does StoryCenter have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $829,946 in grants to StoryCenter, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of StoryCenter?
SEEDWORKS FUND is the largest funder on record, with $325,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like StoryCenter 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 17 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