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California · Nonprofit

Theodyssey Group

Theodyssey Group (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $409,367 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($280,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$304k
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$409k
Net assets
$61k
4/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 32%
01What it does

What Theodyssey Group does

Mission

To guide Christ-followers in the process of whole life spiritual formation.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT During 2024-25, we continued to train and support leaders both online and in person, in large and small-group settings. This support included online boot camps, mentoring workshops, and a leaders growth forum. We remain committed to our initiative to develop the next level of leaders ("Lions") through monthly seminars and annual retreats. We also continued to train trainers via our Certificate in Spiritual Formation Leadership track, which includes four six-week modules and weekend retreats at Mt. Hermon Conference Center. Additionally, we continued to enhance an ongoing Mentoring Community to nurture and prepare mentors to support emerging leaders.

    $114,954 spent
    40% of program spending
  2. LEADERSHIP RESOURCES/PUBLISHING In 2024-25, we continued supporting the distribution of our Spanish translation of Five Misadventures in the Christian Life. We also developed and promoted a 10-part weekly online fall study integrated with small groups, called When We Pray." A new series of four six-week learning modules for in-depth leadership training falls under the umbrella of Tyrannus Hall, our leadership training academy. We funded a part-time position this year for a Tyrannus Hall Director and continue to sponsor day retreats, podcasts, and Certificate track modules under the leadership of Tyrannus Hall.

    $86,216 spent
    30% of program spending
  3. SMALL GROUPS Small groups focused on various studies and topics meet across the country. Our staff was deeply involved in extensive planning, recruiting leaders, training, developing leadership tools, and coaching frontline ministry leaders. Additionally, our teams held day retreats and workshops in Pennsylvania, San Diego, Santa Barbara, the SF Bay area, and online.

    $86,215 spent
    30% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $287,385.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($211k) Expenses 100 ($207k) Net assets 100 ($24k)2018 Revenue 116 ($245k) Expenses 113 ($234k) Net assets 146 ($36k)2019 Revenue 113 ($239k) Expenses 111 ($231k) Net assets 179 ($44k)2020 Revenue 148 ($312k) Expenses 119 ($247k) Net assets 445 ($109k)2021 Revenue 143 ($302k) Expenses 125 ($259k) Net assets 621 ($151k)2022 Revenue 146 ($308k) Expenses 152 ($315k) Net assets 590 ($144k)2023 Revenue 160 ($338k) Expenses 151 ($313k) Net assets 694 ($169k)2024 Revenue 164 ($346k) Expenses 187 ($387k) Net assets 523 ($128k)2025 Revenue 144 ($304k) Expenses 179 ($371k) Net assets 248 ($61k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (144)Expenses (179)Net assets (248)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $131k to $67k (−49%).

$26k
$37k
$46k
$109k
$155k
$150k
$173k
$131k
$67k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

95% of Theodyssey Group’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 15,288 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$4k
’17
$11k
’18
$8k
’19
$65k
’20
$43k
’21
−$7k
’22
$25k
’23
−$42k
’24
−$67k
’25
1.9
months of
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

David Smith

President & CEO

Board chair

Ben Slick

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed778887677
Joined·+0+1+0+0+0+0+2+1
No longer listed·00001111
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $7k → $107k.

6 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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 Theodyssey Group’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

Theodyssey Group leans on a few funders — its largest provides 68% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

99% 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 Theodyssey Group.

68%
largest funder
93%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 50% · 2020 53% · 2021 51% · 2022 65% · 2023 85% — 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

80% of Theodyssey Group's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

99% of Theodyssey Group'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 $5k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 2 states.

IN
MO

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $405k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Theodyssey Group's revenue grew 44% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−22% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve1.9mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,334 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Theodyssey Group

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

78% of spending goes to programs.

Program 78%Management 22%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
86%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Theodyssey Group: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Theodyssey Group?
Theodyssey Group (California) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $409,367 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($280,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Theodyssey Group have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $409,367 in grants to Theodyssey Group, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Theodyssey Group?
DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $280,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Theodyssey Group 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 Theodyssey Group →

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 8 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