California · Nonprofit
STRATUM
STRATUM (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,329,275 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($2,588,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $694k
What Stratum does
Mission
The Stratum foundation is a bay area focused organization that provides innovative solutions for gospel-grounded leaders and institutions in the bay area.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Catalytic funding - the church plant startup grant seeks to strengthen and support new churches as part of catalyzing and fostering a healthy gospel ecosystem in the bay area. This initiative provides financial support to a portfolio of church plants that reflect the diversity of geography, ethnicity, and church-planting models in the bay area. Our matching grants are designed to create a catalyzing opportunity for a church plant to receive significant financial investment. We seek to work in partnership with the existing donors, networks, and organizations to bring needed financial resources to a new church. Since 2019, over 5 million dollars has been donated to new churches through our matching grant program.
$1,697,304 spentof which $1,595,725 as grants98% of program spendingIncubator - the city to city incubator is our one-year training program for pastors who are in the early years of establishing a new church. We provide in-depth, contextualized training, as well as relational support, to help participants establish healthy and effective new churches. Participants in the program learn alongside other leaders of new churches for one day each month, in a retreat-like environment. Incubator is delivered to church planters through local bay area trainers, pastors and leaders with a track record of faithful and fruitful ministry. Since 2018, leaders of 22 new churches have participated in our incubator.
$21,995 spent1% of program spendingCoaching - Stratum coaching is for bay area pastors and church planters. We facilitate small cohorts of leaders that meet together monthly for spiritual formation, practical ministry help, and personal care. The curriculum is designed as a jumping-off point to work through the decisions, challenges, and concerns that leaders are presently facing as people, partners, parents, and planters/pastors. Our coaching cohorts pair 3-6 pastors and church planters with experienced bay area christian leaders. Coaching cohorts meet once a month for a half-day at our office in the retreat-atmosphere of san francisco's presido.
$7,957 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,727,256.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $1.9M to $1.0M (−46%).
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.
98% of STRATUM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (90% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $400k → $1.4M.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 STRATUM’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
STRATUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
70% 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 STRATUM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 88% · 2022 68% · 2023 93% — 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.
Where its funders are
65% of STRATUM'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 $1.5M that is directly attributable, 82% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.8M 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.
Against its field
STRATUM has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,211 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,211 religion nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like STRATUM
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
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 STRATUM: 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 STRATUM?
- STRATUM (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,329,275 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($2,588,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does STRATUM have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $4,329,275 in grants to STRATUM, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of STRATUM?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,588,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like STRATUM 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 11 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