California · Nonprofit
Z-CARES FOUNDATION
Z-CARES FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,292 to it, the largest being VALLEYCARE MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC ($25,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $119k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $46k
- Net assets
- $487k
What Z-Cares Foundation does
Mission
The Z-Cares Foundation's mission is to reduce stigma and spark meaningful conversations around youth mental health by providing evidence-based educational resources, powerful storytelling, guided content, and youth-driven awareness. Z-Cares Foundation will accomplish this mission through; providing evidence-based guided content and building awareness about youth mental health. Z-Cares Foundation supports schools, youth clubs, and youth organizations establish an infrastructure of caring so teens struggling with anxiety and other mental health issues have basic needed support in place
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
The Stories of Hope Collection features short films, special editions, and a feature documentary, all created to illuminate the journey through struggle, resilience, and recovery. From youth facing mental health challenges to individuals breaking silence and stigma, each story shows how talking about their struggles led to healing and hope. Though the experiences vary, they all reflect a shared truth: honesty opens the door to connection, strength, and support. Viewers often see themselves in these powerful stories - sparking empathy, recognition, and the courage to begin their own healing journey. More than just a film series, the award winning Stories of Hope Collection is a movement for mental wellness that brings communities together and encourages real conversations. We feel that together, we can help hope take root.
$37,699 spentof which $50,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $37,699.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $285k to $452k (+59%).
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.
85% of Z-CARES FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $2k → $420.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Z-CARES FOUNDATION’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
Z-CARES FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 94%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
72% 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 Z-CARES FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 58% · 2020 91% · 2021 75% · 2022 96% · 2023 62% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of Z-CARES FOUNDATION's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Z-CARES FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Z-CARES FOUNDATION
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.
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 Z-CARES FOUNDATION: 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 Z-CARES FOUNDATION?
- Z-CARES FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $46,292 to it, the largest being VALLEYCARE MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC ($25,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Z-CARES FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $46,292 in grants to Z-CARES FOUNDATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Z-CARES FOUNDATION?
- VALLEYCARE MEDICAL FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $25,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Z-CARES FOUNDATION 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 Z-Cares →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 6 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