California · Nonprofit
THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $81,779 to it, the largest being BECHEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($75,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 21,380 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2023
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Ritz Family Foundationshared funders
- El Dorado Community Foundationportfolio match
- Martis Camp Community Foundation Dba Martis Camp Foundationportfolio match
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.
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 SIERRA SCHOOLS 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. 5 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $300 → $22k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION’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 SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 92% of grant income and the top three 97%; 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: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 80% · 2020 51% · 2021 95% · 2022 94% · 2023 93% — 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.
Where its funders are
THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first.
- Ritz Family Foundationshared fundersOR · backs 4 organizations that share your funders
- El Dorado Community Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Martis Camp Community Foundation Dba Martis Camp Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Hacienda Child Development Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Friend to Friend Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Earl and Elizabeth Ash Foundation of Nevadaportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Bessie Minor Swift Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Lake Tahoe Kiwanis Club Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Irving J Symons Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Educational Employees Credit Unionportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Tahoe Truckee Community Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Milpitas Charity Bingo Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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.
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SIERRA SCHOOLS 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $81,779 to it, the largest being BECHEN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($75,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $81,779 in grants to THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SIERRA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION?
- BECHEN FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $75,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SIERRA SCHOOLS 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2017–2023), and the filings of 5funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing