California · Nonprofit
ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE
ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,942,500 to it, the largest being THE CALIFORNIA WELLNESS FOUNDATION ($500,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $88k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $33k
What Zocalo Public Square does
Mission
We partner with educational, cultural, and philanthropic institutions to present free public events in cities across the u.s. And beyond, and to publish original daily journalism that we syndicate to more than 280 media outlets nationwide. As our country's public sphere is narrow and polarized, zocalo seeks to be a welcoming intellectual space where individuals and communities can tackle fundamental questions in an accessible, nonpartisan, and broad-minded spirit. We are committed to translating ideas to broad audiences and to engaging a new, young, and diverse generation in the public square.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization completed 11 free public lectures covering a wide range of topics including healthcare, the economy, education, science, art, and politics. The oganization also published approximately 500 pieces of original journalism.
$434,466 spent$36,500 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $434,466.
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 2024 to 2025, from $482k to $47k (−90%).
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 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
59% of ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Moira Shourie
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $325k → $190k.
3 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE’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
ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 64% · 2022 55% · 2023 26% — 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
25% of ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
69% of ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE's revenue fell 91% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
30%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Arizona State University · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE: 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 ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE?
- ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,942,500 to it, the largest being THE CALIFORNIA WELLNESS FOUNDATION ($500,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $1,942,500 in grants to ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE?
- THE CALIFORNIA WELLNESS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ZOCALO PUBLIC SQUARE 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 Zocalo Public Square →
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 11 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