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California · Nonprofit

WOMEN IN FILM

WOMEN IN FILM (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,544,775 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($2,123,489). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$3.2M
Funders on record
40
Grants received
$4.5M
Net assets
$6.0M
21/40 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 29%
01What it does

What Women in Film does

Mission

Promotion of equal rights for women in the entertainment industry. To serve as a repository for information on qualified women in the entertainment industry.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. ADVOCACY: The WIF Advocacy programs call attention to inequality in the entertainment industry, and provide systemic change solutions. Fiscal Sponsorship - opportunities for outside groups to provide research and tools for gender equity. ReFrame - ReFrame is a research-based action plan in partnership with leaders across the industry committed to increasing the number of women of all backgrounds working in film, television, and media.Legacy - By filming interviews with trailblazing women whose accomplishments paved the way for new generations of women working in front of and behind the camera, we are building a library of knowledge and inspiration, preserved in a special collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.WIF International - working collaboratively to strengthen WIFT chapters in Kenya, Nigeria and India and to design a metric for tracking representations of women on screen.

    $2,908,898 spent
    86% of program spending
  2. CAREER:The WIF film programs provide educational opportunities and build skills that lead to sustainable careers that ultimately gender parity. Mentoring Circles and Peer Mentoring together offer a safe and open environment for established women to cultivate the next generation of women seeking professional guidance as they build their careers and networks. The Episodic Lab and Feature Residency are offered to promising non-professional television and film writers to hone their projects through workshops and master classes.Scholarships - funding for university and college programs for people focused on gender equality.

    $362,180 spent
    11% of program spending
  3. HELPLINE: This integrated program offers resources and support-including referrals to pro bono attorneys, free therapist-run support groups, and other services from trusted partner organizations-to anyone who has experienced sexual harassment or misconduct while working in the entertainment industry.

    $100,185 spent
    3% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,371,263.

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 ($1.7M) Expenses 100 ($1.6M) Net assets 100 ($778k)2018 Revenue 243 ($4.1M) Expenses 122 ($1.9M) Net assets 383 ($3.0M)2019 Revenue 139 ($2.3M) Expenses 163 ($2.5M) Net assets 359 ($2.8M)2020 Revenue 153 ($2.6M) Expenses 141 ($2.2M) Net assets 410 ($3.2M)2021 Revenue 130 ($2.2M) Expenses 149 ($2.3M) Net assets 393 ($3.1M)2022 Revenue 214 ($3.6M) Expenses 199 ($3.1M) Net assets 460 ($3.6M)2023 Revenue 457 ($7.7M) Expenses 276 ($4.3M) Net assets 901 ($7.0M)2024 Revenue 187 ($3.2M) Expenses 269 ($4.2M) Net assets 769 ($6.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (187)Expenses (269)Net assets (769)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 $3.9M to $7.2M (+85%).

$1.1M
$3.3M
$3.1M
$3.4M
$3.3M
$3.9M
$7.2M
$6.2M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2018 0% · 2019 3% · 2020 10% · 2021 14% · 2022 2% · 2023 1% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

55% of WOMEN IN FILM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$134k
’17
$2.2M
’18
−$188k
’19
$401k
’20
−$128k
’21
$517k
’22
$3.4M
’23
−$1.0M
’24
11
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

Kirsten Schaffer

CEO

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2931333031272429
Joined·+6+5+5+6+0+9+7
No longer listed·43854122
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $32k → $2.2M.

12 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 WOMEN IN FILM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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

WOMEN IN FILM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

35% 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 WOMEN IN FILM.

47%
largest funder
67%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 33% · 2019 31% · 2020 41% · 2021 53% · 2022 78% · 2023 73% — 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

21% of WOMEN IN FILM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

WOMEN IN FILM draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 10 states in all.

WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
OR
RI
CA
DE
TN

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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

WOMEN IN FILM holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−32% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve11.2mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like WOMEN IN FILM

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

80% of spending goes to programs.

Program 80%Management 8%Fundraising 12%

Governance

28
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

72%

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 WOMEN IN FILM: 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.

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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 WOMEN IN FILM?
WOMEN IN FILM (California) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,544,775 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($2,123,489). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does WOMEN IN FILM have?
IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $4,544,775 in grants to WOMEN IN FILM, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of WOMEN IN FILM?
GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,123,489 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like WOMEN IN FILM 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 40 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