California · Nonprofit
Working Wardrobes For A New Start
Working Wardrobes For A New Start (California) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,367,055 to it, the largest being ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($959,684). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.5M
- Funders on record
- 107
- Grants received
- $5.4M
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What Working Wardrobes For A New Start does
Mission
Working Wardrobes helps individuals overcome barriers to gainful employment by providing workforce readiness programs and resources that promote confidence and self-sufficiency.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Career services - the organization provides career development services to low income individuals and clients who are overcoming difficult challenges. These services include career assessment, resume development, customer service training, financial literacy workshops, job placement assistance, job referrals and job retention services. Volunteer success coaches and job developers support these efforts. Professional wardrobing and grooming services are also provided with the help of volunteer personal shoppers. Approximately 7,615 clients benefited from the services provided during 2024.
$870,078 spent$267,702 earned by the program16% of program spendingResale operations - the organization has one upscale resale boutique that sell a wide selection of top quality donated clothing and accessories to the general public. The shop is located in laguna niguel, ca. Also, the organization has two outlet shops located in garden grove and costa mesa, ca that sell a wide variety of merchandise, men's and women's clothing to the general public. Shops also create opportunities for work experience for clients. The income derived from the sales support the services and programs.
$4,730,534 spent$1,184,869 earned by the program84% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,600,612.
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 2023 to 2024, from $8.8M to $6.1M (−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: 2017 8% · 2018 11% · 2019 7% · 2020 32% · 2021 32% · 2022 32% · 2023 18% · 2024 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of Working Wardrobes For A New Start’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (16% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Bonni Pomush
CEO
Board chair
Janelle Metzger
Board Member/Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 44 funders, grant income rose $376k → $726k.
21 of 107 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 Working Wardrobes For A New Start’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 107 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
Working Wardrobes For A New Start has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
55% 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 Working Wardrobes For A New Start.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 30% · 2019 27% · 2020 23% · 2021 13% · 2022 24% · 2023 20% — 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
35% of Working Wardrobes For A New Start's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
65% of Working Wardrobes For A New Start's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
Working Wardrobes For A New Start's funding base is broadening — from 19 funders to 44 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,551 employment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Working Wardrobes For A New Start receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.7M on record.
- Department of Labor$1.7M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Working Wardrobes For A New Start
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 Working Wardrobes For A New Start: 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 Working Wardrobes For A New Start?
- Working Wardrobes For A New Start (California) receives grants from 107 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,367,055 to it, the largest being ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($959,684). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Working Wardrobes For A New Start have?
- IRS filings report 107 organizations giving $5,367,055 in grants to Working Wardrobes For A New Start, 55 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Working Wardrobes For A New Start?
- ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $959,684 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Working Wardrobes For A New Start 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 107 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