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California · Nonprofit

VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM

VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $288,869 to it, the largest being ORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY ($121,457). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$1.4M
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$289k
Net assets
$-276784
5/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 12%
01What it does

What Vital Link Education- Business Consortium does

Mission

Vital Link's mission is to create the link between business and education to prepare students for the successful transition to a meaningful career.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. A. Provide training for students to improve their workforce preparation skills. B. Assist students in developing an education and career plan aligned to their aptitudes and skillsC. Provide educators with opportunities to connect with buisness to better align their curriculum to match workplace needs.

    $769,862 spent$1,364,858 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $769,862.

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 ($1.1M) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 100 ($113k)2018 Revenue 98 ($1.1M) Expenses 101 ($1.1M) Net assets 70 ($80k)2019 Revenue 90 ($998k) Expenses 90 ($999k) Net assets 69 ($79k)2020 Revenue 72 ($798k) Expenses 77 ($859k) Net assets 16 ($18k)2021 Revenue 91 ($1.0M) Expenses 81 ($902k) Net assets 103 ($117k)2022 Revenue 57 ($634k) Expenses 93 ($1.0M) Net assets -247 ($-279355)2023 Revenue 97 ($1.1M) Expenses 103 ($1.1M) Net assets -308 ($-347978)2024 Revenue 140 ($1.5M) Expenses 143 ($1.6M) Net assets -340 ($-384775)2025 Revenue 124 ($1.4M) Expenses 124 ($1.4M) Net assets -245 ($-276784)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (124)Expenses (124)Net assets (-245)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 2022 to 2023, from $328k to $896k (+173%).

$318k
$280k
$237k
$665k
$773k
$328k
$896k
$357k
$311k
'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

Government-grant reliance: 2021 10% · 2022 62% · 2023 16% · 2024 3% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

10% of VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,434 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 8 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$6k
’17
−$34k
’18
−$1k
’19
−$61k
’20
$99k
’21
−$396k
’22
−$69k
’23
−$37k
’24
−$12k
’25
0.0
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

April Barnes

President & CEO

Board chair

Dr A Cathleen Greiner PhD

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed18181918156666
Joined·+0+7+5+5+2+1+0+2
No longer listed·066811102
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $27k → $9k.

7 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM’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

VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

66% 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 VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM.

42%
largest funder
64%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2020 87% · 2021 41% · 2022 41% · 2023 99% — 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

20% of VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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

66% of VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM'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 $97k that is directly attributable, 64% of it comes from California funders.

CA
NC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’20
’21
’22
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $192k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM's revenue grew 24% between 2017 and 2025.

Operating margin−1% · below the median
Months of reserve0.0mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM

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

56% of spending goes to programs.

Program 56%Management 42%Fundraising 2%

Governance

20
board members
95%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

98%

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 VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM: 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 VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM?
VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $288,869 to it, the largest being ORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY ($121,457). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $288,869 in grants to VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM?
ORANGE COUNTY'S UNITED WAY is the largest funder on record, with $121,457 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like VITAL LINK EDUCATION- BUSINESS CONSORTIUM 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 Vital Link Education- Business Consortium →

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 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