California · Nonprofit
TORCH FOUNDATION
TORCH FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $287,818 to it, the largest being PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ($185,733). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2023
- $162k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $288k
- Net assets
- $4.9M
What Torch Foundation does
Mission
To provide training to support teens with social-emotional intelligence and leadership tools that create self-awareness, resilience, coping and resolution skills to develop healthy relationships and success in life.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Programs
The torch teen training program - the Torch Foundation offers personal growth and leadership development, which enhances teens' social-emotional intelligence. The two-day workshops and one-month follow-up coaching provide a safe, engaging, and inspirational environment that provides each teen with the opportunity for self-discovery and growth. Through guided exercises and activities, the teens will take responsibility for themselves and recognize the power of their own choices and the obstacles that stop them from achieving their potential. They will learn practical tools and skills through this experience that allow them to transform their lives and create unlimited possibilities for themselves, their families, and their communities.
$225,559 spent100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $225,559.
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 2019 to 2020, from $275k to $2.8M (+908%).
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% · 2021 1% · 2022 6% · 2023 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of TORCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Carlton Watson
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $3k → $52k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 TORCH 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
TORCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
94% 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 TORCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 95% · 2020 88% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 48% — 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
20% of TORCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
71% of TORCH FOUNDATION'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 $83k that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from funders outside California, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $205k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
TORCH FOUNDATION receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $288k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,806 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2023
Government funding TORCH FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$50k
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 TORCH 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
46% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
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 TORCH 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 TORCH FOUNDATION?
- TORCH FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $287,818 to it, the largest being PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND ($185,733). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TORCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $287,818 in grants to TORCH FOUNDATION, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TORCH FOUNDATION?
- PAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND is the largest funder on record, with $185,733 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TORCH 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.
Play a game about who funds Torch →
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 11 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