California · Nonprofit
UniversalGiving
UniversalGiving (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $574,546 to it, the largest being Nancy and Randy Best Foundation ($145,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $575k
- Net assets
- $6.5M
What UniversalGiving does
Mission
Our mission is to connect people to quality giving and volunteer opportunities worldwide. UniversalGiving is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, whose vision is to create a world where giving and volunteering are a natural part of everyday life.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Corporate giving and volunteering UniversalGiving regularly partners with organizations, providing our services to help them give and volunteer with top-performing nonprofits. One of the best ways we do this is to help companies, their employees and foundations know which ngos to give to. UniversalGiving leverages its expertise and core competency of vetting non-profit organizations and projects to recommend ngos for funding to corporate foundations and donors. Therefore, we provide more value to corporations, employees, employee volunteers, and donors as they can be ensured their funds are going to the best ngos. For example, we helped a company donate backpacks and scholarships to school children amidst a civil war in guinea. (continued on schedule o)
$1,130,974 spentof which $661,133 as grants$505,655 earned by the program100% of program spendingPublic serviceUniversalGiving helps organizations all around the world access resources by connecting donors and volunteers to vetted ngos and their projects in an efficient and transparent manner. UniversalGivings website (www.UniversalGiving.org) provides a free public service since 2002, where users can select among hundreds of volunteer and donation opportunities to help people in need, such as teaching computer literacy in ghana, or making a $50 donation to provide fresh fruit to orphans in nepal.UniversalGiving does not take a cut: 100% of every donation made to our partner ngos goes directly to the cause. (continued on schedule o)
Major partnershipsUniversalGiving partners with organizations in support of UniversalGivings mission to increase giving and volunteering by promoting our vetted ngo partners and their projects. We are expanding the reach of our ngo partners and their deserving causes by building relationships with individual philanthropists, corporations, foundations, and universities that share our goal of helping people around the world. Some major partnerships include top tech companies that support us with pro bono resources. UniversalGiving is an organization strongly committed to innovative technology. UniversalGiving is one of the top tech for good ngos. New tech partnerships contributing probono services include atlassian, github, jira. (continued on schedule o)
Public service (continued from form 990 page 2)UniversalGiving was featured in more than 20 books, including the new edition harvard review book,hbr guide to delivering effective feedback, arianna huffingtons thrive, and stanford professor laura arrillaga-andreessens giving 2.0.our founder and ceo speaks at many events to help people get involved in giving their money and time. One of the most important ones this year was legacy builders, where she spoke alongside of steve young, former 49ers quarterback, about giving back. She shared how people of means can give back to quality nonprofits all over the world. She demonstrated the quality model and the importance of vetting and UniversalGivings unique proprietary vetting service. Legacy builders is a series of family office gatherings and events hosted by alan olsen, managing partner of the groco family office and cpa firm. Guy kawasaki, who has 2 million followers on social media, is the creator of guy kawasakis remarkable people podcast interviews with thought leaders, legends, and iconoclasts sharing how they've overcome the extraordinary challenges they've faced in life. Kawasaki, who is a venture capitalist, interviewed our…
Major partnerships (continued from form 990 page 2)top tech partnerships for 10+ years include google that provides us $830,000 worth of google grants and google analytics pro bono; salesforce that provides us $570,000 worth of salesforce user access pro bono; microsoft that provides us $150,000 worth of microsoft 365 services pro bono; slack that provides us $220,000 worth in slack management technology services pro bono; okta that provides us $80,000 worth of okta for good technology services pro bono; docusign that provides $8,000 worth of digital signature technology services pro bono. Alteryx that provides us $120,000 worth of technology services pro bono; dropbox that provides us $120,000 worth dropbox business cloud services pro bono; box.com that provides us $25,000 worth box business cloud services pro bono; buffer that provides us $5000 worth of social media management services pro bono. New partnership as of 2024 includes canva that provides us $27,600 worth of canva teams services pro bono.other partnerships include wilson sonsini goodrich & rosati that provides all legal services pro bono, more than $3 million in services. For more than 10 years we have university…
Corporate giving and volunteering (continued from form 990 page 2)no other foundation or donor-advised fund would take on the project, and we found a local ngo to achieve the companys vision. We help our ngos by presenting them to companies for their corporate social responsibility programs. This increases awareness about these ngos, helps them with funding, and helps them with more corporate volunteers. The same holds true in our work with universities, foundations, and donors. By ensuring these entities giving and volunteer is effective, we are further broadening UniversalGivings mission to connect people with quality giving and volunteering opportunities worldwide. Thank you for supporting our vision to create a world where giving and volunteering are a natural part of everyday life.
Social mediaUniversalGiving is also active on social media. We found that social media creates bridges for us to engage with people and organizations that would like to help. We are using social media platforms such as instagram, facebook, linkedin, pinterest, and x. Our social media results reflect that our linkedin posts have gone viral, reaching over 2,300 impressions and nearly 2,000 members. We plan on continuing our social media presence to increase awareness about our ngo partners and global issues. Our living and giving (https://livingandgiving.io) inspirational blog is also gaining traction: we have increased the number of views by 124.8%.
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,130,974.
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 $3.2M to $4.3M (+32%).
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 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
52% of UniversalGiving’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Pamela Hawley
Founder & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $82k → $85k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 UniversalGiving’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
UniversalGiving has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 34% · 2019 44% · 2020 33% · 2021 54% · 2022 66% · 2023 59% — 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
50% of UniversalGiving's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
UniversalGiving draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $137k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
UniversalGiving runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like UniversalGiving
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
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
22%
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 UniversalGiving: 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 UniversalGiving?
- UniversalGiving (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $574,546 to it, the largest being Nancy and Randy Best Foundation ($145,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UniversalGiving have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $574,546 in grants to UniversalGiving, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UniversalGiving?
- Nancy and Randy Best Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $145,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UniversalGiving 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 2017–2024), 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