California · Nonprofit
YIMBY ACTION
YIMBY ACTION (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,022,000 to it, the largest being OPEN PHILANTHROPY ACTION FUND ($420,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Yimby Action does
Mission
Yimby Action is a non-profit policy advocate organization that seeks to promote social welfare by educating about and advocating for the construction of new housing and empowering others in the formation of similar organizations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Direct and grassroots advocacy to influence policymaking and govermental issues: Yimby Action lobbies state and local appointed and elected officials on housing issues, including proposed housing legislation and the approval of housing development, including through participation in at the public meetings of local, state, and federal govermental officials. Yimby Action action also organizes volunteer housing advocates to attend such public meetings to lobby local and state officials on housing issues, conducts related letter/email-writing campaigns, social media campaigns, and otherwise attempts to bring about solutions to the shortage of housing near jobs through a change in the public discourse around housing.
$491,144 spent64% of program spendingPublic education: Yimby Action prepares and distributes information to the general public about the lack of housing across the country. Proposed legislation solutions and governmental activities to address these issues, and the current state of affairs around housing policy. It distributes electronic newsletters/communications and podcasts to supporters, has sponsored and participated in programs for community members and supporters on housing issues, and proposed solutions to the current housing shortage. It also responds to press calls, drafts and plans persuasive communications pieces, and engages the public through social media.
$174,244 spentof which $100,000 as grants23% of program spendingCoalition building: in order to faciliate its public education and grassroots and direct lobbying efforts, Yimby Action connects with community members, recruits housing advocates, and organizes coalitions of housing activists together with community leaders. It also works with others in the formation of similar organizations. Yimby Action coordinates numerous collaborative events with community groups around the country to build a strong coalition to further its mission.
$106,432 spent14% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $771,820.
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 $1.1M to $1.5M (+40%).
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.
100% of YIMBY ACTION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Laura Foote
Executive director
Board chair
Jeff Fong
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $50k → $61k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Yes in My Back Yard). These are real filings, and they are not money YIMBY ACTION raised.
From the IRS filings of YIMBY ACTION’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
YIMBY ACTION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
99% 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 YIMBY ACTION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 54% · 2021 83% · 2022 86% · 2023 44% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of YIMBY ACTION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
YIMBY ACTION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like YIMBY ACTION
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Yes in My Back Yard · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for YIMBY ACTION: 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 YIMBY ACTION?
- YIMBY ACTION (California) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,022,000 to it, the largest being OPEN PHILANTHROPY ACTION FUND ($420,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does YIMBY ACTION have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $1,022,000 in grants to YIMBY ACTION, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of YIMBY ACTION?
- OPEN PHILANTHROPY ACTION FUND is the largest funder on record, with $420,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like YIMBY ACTION 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 7 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