California · Nonprofit
YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE
YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $973,651 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($509,967). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 98% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $708k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $974k
- Net assets
- $318k
What Youth Making a Difference does
Mission
Our mission is to inspire and empower youth in leadership and service. We do this by giving youth a platform to make their voices heard on issues affecting our communities and providing them (see schedule o)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Education program - hands4hope - Youth Making a Difference's education program, including on-campus clubs and after-school project committees, incorporates our mission by providing opportunities for students to explore needs in their communities, act on them by creating, developing, and implementing service-learning projects, then lead those projects from start to finish. In 2025, hands4hope middle school service-learning clubs successfully planned and implemented nine service-learning projects benefiting eight area nonprofits, raised 7,993,collected 178 and made 42 items to benefit areas of need including:the unhoused, animal welfare, at risk women and children in need,socioeconomically disadvantaged families and families battling pediatric cancer. (see schedule o)
$351,450 spentof which $2,009 as grants65% of program spendingCommunity engagement program - community engagement outreaches are the platform from which youth in hands4hope - Youth Making a Difference learn about and interact with the community. Participants engage in activities that address human and community needs together, learning first-hand about social issues and the power they have to make a positive difference. In 2025, a total of 351 youth and adult participants (225 youth and 126 adults) in hands4hope - Youth Making a Differences community engagement program logged a total of 3,255 service hours (2,287 youth, 968 adults), through outreach opportunities. They served 13,404 individuals in our community. The participants created 597 cards, crafts, and desserts for seniors, women, and children. (see schedule o)
$187,098 spent35% of program spendingLeadership - hands4hope - Youth Making a Difference leadership is based on servant leadership, which is driven by passion, the desire to take action, and the ability to inspire others to do the same. Hands4hope offers a variety of leadership development opportunities including camps and workshops, as well as hands-on experiences, including meetings with community leaders and organizations and being a part of the hands4hope-Youth Making a Difference youth board.(see schedule o)
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $538,548.
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 2018 to 2019, from $143k to $273k (+92%).
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 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Heather Edwards
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $14k → $92k.
8 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 98% 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 MAKING A DIFFERENCE’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
YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 91% · 2019 45% · 2020 67% · 2021 70% · 2022 43% · 2023 55% — 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
33% of YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
98% of YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $23k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $950k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE has grown faster than half of the 3,482 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,482 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE: 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 YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE?
- YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $973,651 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($509,967). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 98% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $973,651 in grants to YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $509,967 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like YOUTH MAKING A DIFFERENCE 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 Making a Difference →
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 13 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