California · Nonprofit
TRUE WEST FILM CENTER
TRUE WEST FILM CENTER (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,197,662 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($644,500). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $2.8M
What True West Film Center does
Mission
True West Film Center brings the transformative power of cinema to northern california. We remove barriers to film and media arts. We support artists, educate students of all ages, and create joy through entertainment, fostering a community where everyone belongs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Year-round film program:True West Film Center currently serves over 5,000 people, 1,000 students, and 600 lifelong learners. Curated film series, special movie events, and our free summer series offer engaging filmgoing experiences year-round.
$311,399 spent$123,273 earned by the program42% of program spendingEducation:True West Film Center's youth education programs reach students across sonoma county with school partnerships in each of the five sonoma county districts. We work with community groups, nonprofits, and youth leaders to close the gap in digital literacy and media art skils training by offering an integrated arts curriculum in core classes using teaching artists, extracurricular filmmaking workshops, field trips to film festivals, free film screenings, summer camps, and service-learning opportunities.
$256,004 spent$45,928 earned by the program35% of program spendingFilm festival:our annual film festival provides audiences and filmmakers ten days of thought-provoking films, the best of sonoma county's food & wine scene, shorts, panels, parties, and special events.
$172,896 spent$73,279 earned by the program23% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $740,299.
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 2023 to 2024, from $2.1M to $3.6M (+75%).
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 11% · 2023 1% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of TRUE WEST FILM CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $30k → $445k.
14 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 65% 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 TRUE WEST FILM CENTER’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
TRUE WEST FILM CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
71% 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 TRUE WEST FILM CENTER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 77% · 2019 90% · 2020 59% · 2021 68% · 2022 23% · 2023 30% — 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
75% of TRUE WEST FILM CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
65% of TRUE WEST FILM CENTER'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 $776k that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M 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
TRUE WEST FILM CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding TRUE WEST FILM CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $15k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$15k
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 TRUE WEST FILM CENTER
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
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 TRUE WEST FILM CENTER: 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 TRUE WEST FILM CENTER?
- TRUE WEST FILM CENTER (California) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,197,662 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($644,500). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 65% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TRUE WEST FILM CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $2,197,662 in grants to TRUE WEST FILM CENTER, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRUE WEST FILM CENTER?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $644,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRUE WEST FILM CENTER 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 True West Film Center →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 28 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