California · Nonprofit
THE SOLA FOUNDATION
THE SOLA FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,675,121 to it, the largest being TECHNICAL TRAINING FOUNDATION ($10,992,888). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 60
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What The Sola Foundation does
Mission
The Sola Foundation is built on a simple premise: if you can see it, you can be it. Sola works to end intergenerational poverty in south los angeles through community development and creating new access to economic and educational opportunity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Technology & entrepreneurship center (tec): provide access to career development & entrepreneurship access to education & tech innovation access to financial literacy & economic mobility access to college readiness.
$1,663,215 spentof which $42,306 as grants$27,200 earned by the program54% of program spendingCommunity engagement/pathways to ownership: support the community and residents with furniture and other living needs.
$618,337 spentof which $374,870 as grants20% of program spendingSola scholars: providing scholarships and college support to inspiring south la high school seniors committed to pursuing a higher education and making an impact in their community. (access to college scholarships).
$785,238 spentof which $203,073 as grants26% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,066,790.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $2.2M to $8.2M (+265%).
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: 2020 0% · 2024 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
106% of THE SOLA FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Sherri Francois
President/exec. Dir.
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $68k → $2.7M.
16 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 SOLA FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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 SOLA FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 75%; 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: 2019 74% · 2020 50% · 2021 75% · 2022 78% · 2023 57% — 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
15% of THE SOLA FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 35% 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
THE SOLA FOUNDATION draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 SOLA FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,928 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,928 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding THE SOLA FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$1.0M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like THE SOLA 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
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Black Impact Community Fund Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE SOLA 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 SOLA FOUNDATION?
- THE SOLA FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,675,121 to it, the largest being TECHNICAL TRAINING FOUNDATION ($10,992,888). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE SOLA FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $16,675,121 in grants to THE SOLA FOUNDATION, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SOLA FOUNDATION?
- TECHNICAL TRAINING FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,992,888 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SOLA 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 FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 60 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