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California · Nonprofit

YOUTH LAW CENTER

YOUTH LAW CENTER (California) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,543,736 to it, the largest being CHILDNET INC ($2,297,306). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$7.1M
Funders on record
47
Grants received
$11M
Net assets
$9.8M
25/47 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Youth Law Center does

Mission

Protection of the rights of minors. Provide legal education, counsel, legal representation and general assistance in the reform of the law regarding the rights of minors.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. General mission and advocacy - ylc advocates to transform juvenile justice and child welfare systems across the nation so every child and youth can thrive, utilizing multiple strategies, including litigation; legislation and policy reform; training and technical assistance; leadership and public education; and creative advocacy. As a public interest law firm, ylc fights for laws and policies to reduce incarceration and institutionalization; ensure children removed from their homes are in families and receive humane and fair treatment, and receive the education, health care, family connection, and supports youth need to successfully transition out of systems and thrive as adults.

    $1,613,071 spent$286,769 earned by the program
    33% of program spending
  2. Quality parenting initiative (qpi) - ylc advocates for national systems changes that will protect and expand children's relationships and result in excellent parenting for youth in foster care. Qpi operationalizes ylc's foster care advocacy on the community level by providing advocacy support, legal training, and technical assistance to children, youth, and families, and their advocates in order to reform child welfare practice and policy.

    $2,055,070 spent$876,394 earned by the program
    42% of program spending
  3. Youth law advocacy support - ylc serves as a california state bar funded support center on youth law issues for qualified legal services programs providing civil legal services in california. Ylc's staff provides impact advocacy and advocacy support through co-counseling, consultation, research, training, and other assistance on a range of issues including public benefits, housing, education, health care and other legal issues facing young people impacted by foster care and juvenile justice systems. Ylc also works to enhance access to supports and services and improve early adulthood outcomes of young people at risk of involvement, involved, or formerly involved in the foster care or juvenile justice systems.

    $1,275,783 spent$557,709 earned by the program
    26% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,943,924.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($2.4M) Expenses 100 ($2.2M) Net assets 100 ($1.9M)2020 Revenue 231 ($5.5M) Expenses 113 ($2.5M) Net assets 262 ($4.9M)2021 Revenue 190 ($4.6M) Expenses 150 ($3.4M) Net assets 327 ($6.1M)2022 Revenue 207 ($5.0M) Expenses 157 ($3.5M) Net assets 404 ($7.5M)2023 Revenue 155 ($3.7M) Expenses 199 ($4.4M) Net assets 371 ($6.9M)2024 Revenue 239 ($5.7M) Expenses 228 ($5.1M) Net assets 419 ($7.8M)2025 Revenue 295 ($7.1M) Expenses 248 ($5.5M) Net assets 528 ($9.8M)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (295)Expenses (248)Net assets (528)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 2019 to 2020, from $2.0M to $5.2M (+157%).

$2.0M
$5.2M
$6.2M
$7.6M
$7.1M
$8.0M
$11M
2019202020212022202320242025
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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 26% · 2022 25% · 2023 0% · 2024 13% · 2025 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

69% of YOUTH LAW CENTER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (93% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,392 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$166k
’19
$3.0M
’20
$1.2M
’21
$1.4M
’22
−$723k
’23
$642k
’24
$1.5M
’25
5.7
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

Jennifer Rodriguez

Executive director

Board chair

Joy Singleton

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2019202020212022202320242025
Listed18181924211516
Joined·+4+4+6+4+1+5
No longer listed·431774
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $264k → $1.0M.

9 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 YOUTH LAW CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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

YOUTH LAW CENTER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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

45% 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 YOUTH LAW CENTER.

22%
largest funder
46%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 72% · 2019 89% · 2020 37% · 2021 51% · 2022 30% · 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

33% of YOUTH LAW CENTER'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

YOUTH LAW CENTER draws 51% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 11 states in all.

WA
IL
MI
NY
PA
CA
MD
DE
DC
OK
FL

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. $526k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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

YOUTH LAW CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 793 crime & legal nonprofits its size.

Operating margin22% · top quartile
Months of reserve5.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)20% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 crime & legal nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding YOUTH LAW CENTER receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.

State$25k
21
22
Top programs
  • CONTRACTED SERVICES - OTHER $25k

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 YOUTH LAW CENTER

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

89% of spending goes to programs.

Program 89%Management 7%Fundraising 3%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

97%

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 YOUTH LAW CENTER: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 YOUTH LAW CENTER?
YOUTH LAW CENTER (California) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,543,736 to it, the largest being CHILDNET INC ($2,297,306). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does YOUTH LAW CENTER have?
IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $10,543,736 in grants to YOUTH LAW CENTER, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of YOUTH LAW CENTER?
CHILDNET INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,297,306 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like YOUTH LAW CENTER 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 Youth Law Center →

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 47 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