California · Nonprofit
THE FREGENET FOUNDATION
THE FREGENET FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,916 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($8,417). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $30k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $15k
- Net assets
- $58k
What The Fregenet Foundation does
Mission
The Foundation is dedicated to creating educational opportunities for impoverished children in Ethiopia. The Foundation provides high quality early education as a means to overcome poverty, reduce gender inequality and more to disadvantaged children. The Fregenet Foundation set out to provide this by building schools that have lower teacher / student ratio (2 to 30) and provides everything for free (meals, uniform, books, education), including a free pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten program.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Fregenet Foundation is a non-profit corporation that provides early childhood education to children from low-income families in Ethiopia. The first Fregenet School (Fregenet KidanLehitsanat) opened its doors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the fall of 2004 and enrolled 31 children ages 4 to 6 from a small and impoverished community in Addis Ababa. The vision for the school was inspired by Fregenet Tafesse Woubshet, an Ethiopian-American who died in 2003 before she could realize her dream of returning to Ethiopia to help children. Thanks to generous benefactors, in the school's 21 years of operation, the number of students served has grown to over 560. About the School: Many students are from single-parent households, while others are from families of unemployed parents or precariously employed families. Students are selected in a fair manner and in accordance with the nondiscrimination policy of the Foundation and the School. Some of the students, if not all, may not have had the opportunity to go to school had it not been for the Foundation. The school currently supports 90 students. There are three classes for the Kindergarten, or "KG." KG 1: These are the youngest children,…
$13,000 spent$30,874 earned by the program39% of program spendingThe Fregenet Foundation's mission includes building schools that maintain smaller teacher-to-student ratios (2 to 30) and provide free education through Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs. Project 1: Bishoftu Elementary School Construction. The Foundation's first project focused on establishing a model school, Fregenet Dembi Elementary School, on a 12,000-square-meter plot in Bishoftu. Completed in 2022, the school features seven classrooms, each accommodating 30 students, covering levels from Preschool and Kindergarten 1-3 through Grades 1-4. Additional facilities include a library, computer lab, cafeteria, and clinic, addressing both the educational and social needs of local children. Fregenet Dembi Elementary School opened its doors to its first students in September 2022, reinforcing the Foundation's commitment to advancing education for Ethiopian children. Project #2: Addis Ababa Elementary School Construction. The second initiative, Fregenet Elementary School in Addis Ababa, expands educational opportunities for children from underprivileged communities. The school is being built on land provided free of charge by the Addis Ababa City Administration. Like the…
$20,000 spent61% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $33,000.
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 2019 to 2020, from $223k to $154k (−31%).
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.
100% of THE FREGENET FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (65% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $6k → $16.
4 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 THE FREGENET FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 3 of 4 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
THE FREGENET FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 THE FREGENET FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of THE FREGENET 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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $15k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
THE FREGENET FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 17,277 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,277 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like THE FREGENET 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
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE FREGENET 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 THE FREGENET FOUNDATION?
- THE FREGENET FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,916 to it, the largest being CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA ($8,417). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE FREGENET FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $14,916 in grants to THE FREGENET FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE FREGENET FOUNDATION?
- CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $8,417 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE FREGENET 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.
Play a game about who funds Fregenet →
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 4 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