California · Nonprofit
WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION
WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,168,947 to it, the largest being Greater Horizons ($394,828). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $2.2M
- Net assets
- $11M
What Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation does
Mission
The purpose of the organization is to perpetuate the legacy of will rogers through the works of three programs, brave beginnings, the will rogers institute and the pioneers assistance fund.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Pioneers Assistance ProgramThe Pioneers Assistance Fund (PAF) provides financial assistance for health and welfare issues to people who work in theatrical entertainment. Assistance is provided on a sliding scale for people who have worked a minimum of three years in the industry up to people who have worked an entire career in the industry. The PAF is funded by restricted donations from entertainment industry companies, foundations and individuals who work in the theatrical entertainment industry. People who have worked in theatrical entertainment for a minimum of three years are eligible to receive financial assistance and counseling due to accident, illness, natural disaster, financial hardship, and medical issues. PAF provided long-term type assistance to 13 clients due to quality-of-life issues. Short-term assistance was given to 1,586 clients primarily for housing insecurity, medical rehabilitation, medical related equipment, burial and cremation expenses, and natural disaster relief. The total number of people who contacted PAF and received a minimum of counseling help or resource referral was 2,138. 2024-2025 the U.S. saw numerous natural disasters including severe storms…
$1,669,249 spentof which $998,798 as grants72% of program spendingWill Rogers Institute Research & Fellowships The Will Rogers Institute (WRI) is a program that has roots dating back to when the charity operated the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital. A primary objective of the hospital was to conduct research for patient care and train pulmonary doctors on how to provide the best care for their patients. To date, the Will Rogers Institute has funded more than $50 million in research grants, training fellowships, and special projects in the pulmonary sector. What began as a training program for medical research during the 1950s and 60s at the Will Rogers Hospital in upstate New York, lives on in present day through the work of the Will Rogers Institute. Today, the Will Rogers Institute funds the Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Center at Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, and five fellowships across the United States. Directed by Edward Crandall, PhD, MD, the Will Rogers Institute Pulmonary Research Center at USC and its laboratory group have achieved major advances in research related to lung injury, pulmonary edema the abnormal buildup of fluid in the air spaces of the lungs and pulmonary fibrosis. In 2024-2025,…
$369,181 spentof which $360,000 as grants16% of program spendingWill Rogers Institute - Health Education Another objective of the Will Rogers Institute is to educate the public on the prevention of cardio-pulmonary disorders, as well as, how to manage such disorders. The WRI has a rich history of producing and distributing public service announcements (PSAs) on an annual basis, for theatrical, web-based and television audiences. Print public service announcements, as well as digital PSAs are also part of that rich history. Since the 1950s, celebrities have donated their time and star power to help attract attention to the PSA and the importance of the topic. The Will Rogers Institutes web site continues to be visited by the public, generating thousands of hits per year and page views. While requests for printed booklets continue to decline due to the amount of free material on the internet, (including the WRI website which has downloadable booklets available), WRI continues to distribute free booklets on a monthly basis to members of the general public. Although there is a large amount of free information available on the internet, the free health booklets continue are requested from organizations such as community health centers, educators,…
$148,179 spentof which $815 as grants6% of program spendingBrave Beginnings an initiative of the Will Rogers Institute In 2015, the Will Rogers Institute Neonatal Ventilator Equipment Program was officially renamed, Brave Beginnings (BB). Due to the large premature birth problem in the United States (the US has the sixth highest rate of premature births in the world, 10% of all births), hospitals have a tremendous need for additional equipment and modern equipment that will give a premature infant a fighting chance at a life without disease or a permanent disorder. Due to the evolving landscape of the movie theater industry, funding sources for the Brave Beginnings program (traditionally, the majority of fundraising for the Brave Beginnings program comes from in-theater campaigns including concession programs and donation canisters) still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. That said, the program was in a position to fund a grant cycle of $128,000 to four deserving institutions. Since the ventilator grant program was established in 2006, more than 200 hospitals have received grants, totaling nearly $10 million dollars, and an estimated 350,000 infants have benefitted. The overall objectives of the Brave Beginnings program to educate…
$143,406 spentof which $128,000 as grants6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,330,015.
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 $13M to $12M (−14%).
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 4% · 2022 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (51% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 9 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
Christina Blumer
Exec director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $86k → $267k.
9 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% 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: $1.6M from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest National Association of Theatre Owners Inc); $75k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION’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
WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% 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
69% 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 WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 76% · 2019 73% · 2020 30% · 2021 41% · 2022 24% · 2023 24% — 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
41% of WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION draws 70% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 4,665 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,665 health nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION: 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 WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION?
- WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,168,947 to it, the largest being Greater Horizons ($394,828). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $2,168,947 in grants to WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION?
- Greater Horizons is the largest funder on record, with $394,828 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION 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 29 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