California · Nonprofit
THE NEST SCHOOL
THE NEST SCHOOL (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,625,590 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,910,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.7M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $5.2M
What The Nest School does
Mission
Our mission at the nest is to support each individual child in building a foundation for lifelong learning. We believe in a wholistic, developmentally appropriate, and child centric approach that emphasizes each student's cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development. Educators and families work together to foster connections between home and school. Involvement is intentional, communication is open and ample, and goals are shared.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The Nest School is a non-profit montessori preschool serving children aged 2 years 6 months to 5 years in an intimate residential setting. Technically classified as a family child care home, the nest is a small-by-design program that provides quality individualized early childhood instruction for its 20 children. The offering includes a half day morning program, a half day afternoon program, and a full day program reserved for children in their final year of preschool.the nest's mission is to support each individual child in building a foundation for lifelong learning and believe in a wholistic, developmentally appropriate, and child centric approach that emphasizes each student's cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development. Educators and families work together to foster connections between home and school. Involvement is intentional, communication is open and ample, and goals are shared.the school completed its 7th year, maintaining steady enrollment figures, robust fundraising thanks to the generosity of its school community, and the same employees since the school inception. In addition to the enrichment offerings of music, pe, yoga, and art, the school also added a…
$710,489 spent$468,476 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $710,489.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.4M to $6.3M (+338%).
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.
81% of THE NEST SCHOOL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $65k → $127k.
6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 NEST SCHOOL’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
THE NEST SCHOOL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
86% 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 NEST SCHOOL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 49% · 2019 38% · 2020 25% · 2021 23% · 2022 59% · 2023 79% — 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.
How long its funders stay
40% of THE NEST SCHOOL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
86% of THE NEST SCHOOL'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 $365k that is directly attributable, 97% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M 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.
Against its field
THE NEST SCHOOL runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE NEST SCHOOL
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
69% 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 NEST SCHOOL: 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 NEST SCHOOL?
- THE NEST SCHOOL (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,625,590 to it, the largest being CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,910,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE NEST SCHOOL have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $2,625,590 in grants to THE NEST SCHOOL, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE NEST SCHOOL?
- CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,910,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE NEST SCHOOL 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 Nest School →
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 14 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