California · Nonprofit
WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $557,710 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ($231,960). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $327k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $558k
- Net assets
- $363k
What Watsonville Film Festival does
Mission
The Watsonville Film Festival (WFF) presents Latine filmmakers and stories that illuminate our shared humanity and inspire positive change by providing a platform for filmmakers whose work is rarely seen in mainstream media, creating a space for thoughtful conversations between filmmakers & audience, and inspiring youth to see filmmaking as a way to make a positive impact on our world. WFF supports local emerging filmmakers and promotes economic & cultural development through the cinematic arts in Watsonville. WFF highlights films that create bridges of understanding and promote equity, creativity and joy for everyone.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
During the fiscal year 2024-2025, we presented the 13th Annual Watsonville Film Festival from March 6-25 at the CineLux Green Valley Cinema in Watsonville. Our centerpiece film commemorated the 40th Anniversary of the Watsonville Cannery Strike.For the first time we hosted screenings at Maya Cinemas in Salinas and 418 Project Theater in Santa Cruz. Attendance: 2,800. We presented 50 films and hosted 38 filmmakers, most of them based in the Monterey Bay Region. We featured 22 live events, 12 screenings across four cities, 9 of them sold out. 2025 WFF Film Guide. As part of our Cine Se Puede initiative, we hosted our First Filmmakers Summit. 56 filmmakers attended, connected and shared their dreams, interests and challenges working in our region. The WFFs 7th Annual Dia de Muertos Festival at the Plaza attracted 2,500 families.At this beautiful celebration we premiered Eternidad, a WFF Cine Se Puede supported film by director Ignacio Muoz. We also presented The Book of Life,selected by community vote. As part of the program, we featured 175 live performers, 21 community altars, collaborated with 50 community partners, businesses and sponsors, and supported 40 artists and vendors at…
$150,231 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $150,231.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $280k to $363k (+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: 2023 13% · 2024 18% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
65% of WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $16k → $117k.
6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 13 of 14 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
WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
75% 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 WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 63% · 2018 37% · 2019 38% · 2020 68% · 2021 57% · 2022 59% · 2023 52% — 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
67% of WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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 WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL'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 $207k that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $351k 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
WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
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
62% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
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 WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL: 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 WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL?
- WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL (California) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $557,710 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ($231,960). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $557,710 in grants to WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $231,960 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATSONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL 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 Watsonville Film Festival →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 14 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