California · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY (California) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,668,666 to it, the largest being THE LAWRENCE & JUNKO CUSHMAN FOUNDATION FKA THE CUSHMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,740,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.5M
- Funders on record
- 66
- Grants received
- $6.7M
- Net assets
- $14M
What United Way of San Diego County does
Mission
To spark breakthrough community action that elevates every child and family toward a brighter future.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
United Way of San Diego County ensures children, individuals, and families have the support they need to achieve educational success and financial security.education:United Way of San Diego County is deeply committed to education, and the urgency of our work has never been more apparent as the educational achievement gaps within our community continue to widen. By listening to the people in our region's distinct, vibrant communities, we urgently address deeply rooted disparities in historically under-resourced communities where children are not reaching their full potential. We collaborate with these communities and leverage the strength of our partners countywide - businesses, government, schools, policymakers, and nonprofit organizations - to collectively achieve lasting change for children, young adults, and families. To bridge these gaps across the region, which typically fall along racial and socio-economic lines, we strategically focus on key areas such as early childhood literacy, so children can reach milestones like reading proficiently by the end of third grade, and career readiness, so students are exposed to high-paying, in-demand steam careers across different…
$1,244,707 spentof which $63,500 as grants35% of program spendingEconomic mobility:in the face of the widening economic disparities in our region, United Way of San Diego County remains dedicated to providing essential financial resources and creating pathways for economic mobility that can profoundly impact the lives of those struggling to make ends meet. We improve the financial security of families through financial education and counseling, free tax filing assistance to maximize refunds and ensure individuals and families receive all available tax credits, and access to safe, affordable financial services through trusted banks. Through the strength of our partnerships countywide, these programs support families in becoming financially secure, emotionally healthy, and engaged in the community. For over 24 years, our san diego county earned income tax credit coalition has grown to over 47 partner organizations. In 2025, our combined efforts brought back $31.7m in federal and state returns, which included the child tax credits. The coalition served 42.6k families, saving them $7.6m in tax preparation fees.
$854,664 spentof which $29,000 as grants24% of program spendingGiving back:our corporate partners and their employees provide over $2.6m in funding to uwsd and designate over $991k to other organizations throughout san diego county and the country through workplace giving. We partner with many corporations and local businesses to provide sponsorships, special engagement opportunities, and volunteerism for their employees, as individuals, in teams, or as a whole company. Our growing and robust fundraising efforts bring in over $5.1m for programs and general operating support.
$1,450,219 spent$352,925 earned by the program41% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,549,590.
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 2022 to 2023, from $16M to $20M (+30%).
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: 2017 7% · 2018 1% · 2019 6% · 2020 24% · 2021 17% · 2022 16% · 2023 13% · 2024 11% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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
Nancy Sasaki
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $560k → $806k.
14 of 66 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $3.3M from 11 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The San Diego Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 66 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
UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
45% 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 UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 31% · 2019 37% · 2020 14% · 2021 37% · 2022 40% · 2023 44% — growing more concentrated.
“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
48% of UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
63% of UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY is better cushioned than half of the 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,645 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.3M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$2.0M
- Department of Health and Human Services$1.3M
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 UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
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
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY: 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 UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY?
- UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY (California) receives grants from 66 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,668,666 to it, the largest being THE LAWRENCE & JUNKO CUSHMAN FOUNDATION FKA THE CUSHMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,740,000). 40 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY have?
- IRS filings report 66 organizations giving $6,668,666 in grants to UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY, 40 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY?
- THE LAWRENCE & JUNKO CUSHMAN FOUNDATION FKA THE CUSHMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,740,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 66 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing