California · Nonprofit
THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE
THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE (California) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,470,651 to it, the largest being LEICHTAG FOUNDATION ($2,004,450). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 45
- Grants received
- $3.5M
- Net assets
- $587k
What The San Marcos Promise does
Mission
Project next transforms how high school students prepare for life after graduation by embedding career readiness and workforce development directly on campus through future centers. In partnership with school districts and more than 400 local professionals and businesses, we equip students with the clarity, confidence, and connections needed to transition successfully into higher education, career training, military service, or living wage employment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Project next operates five on campus future centers serving high school students across san marcos and escondido. These centers function as year-round, high touch workforce readiness hubs embedded within partner schools. During the fiscal year: students visited future centers more than 5,300 times. Career coaches delivered over 1,300 individualized coaching sessions to nearly 900 students. 470 students completed the superstrong interest assessment to align strengths with career pathways. 392 students completed fafsa or cadaa applications with direct support. More than 2,400 student touchpoints were generated through 90 career readiness events. Over 400 professionals representing 130 plus companies engaged directly with students.equity is central to our model. Among participants in our structured cohort programs: 85 percent were socioeconomically disadvantaged. 64 to 78 percent were first generation college bound. Up to 92 percent identified as students of color.focused futures, our two-year college and career exploration program, served 109 students. Seventy five percent completed the year with a defined post-graduation plan and 72 percent are pursuing higher education or career…
$742,277 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $742,277.
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 2020 to 2021, from $368k to $695k (+89%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 7% · 2022 18% · 2023 23% · 2024 9% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Lisa Stout
Executive director
Board chair
Randy Walton
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 18 funders, grant income fell $500k → $187k.
9 of 45 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 SAN MARCOS PROMISE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 45 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 SAN MARCOS PROMISE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 93% · 2020 92% · 2021 63% · 2022 29% · 2023 19% — 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
63% of THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
87% of THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $704k 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 SAN MARCOS PROMISE is better cushioned than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE
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
54% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
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 THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE: 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 SAN MARCOS PROMISE?
- THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE (California) receives grants from 45 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,470,651 to it, the largest being LEICHTAG FOUNDATION ($2,004,450). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE have?
- IRS filings report 45 organizations giving $3,470,651 in grants to THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE?
- LEICHTAG FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,004,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SAN MARCOS PROMISE 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 San Marcos Promise →
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 45 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing