GrantmakersCalifornia

Powerca Action

Los Angeles, CA · EIN 45-4091853. Reported 38 grants totalling $1,542,100 to 23 organizations across tax years 2022-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

23organizations funded
$35,882median reported grant
$1,542,100granted, 2022-2024
65%of grantees funded again the next year
12%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Powerca Action, the IRS classifies it under civil rights rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE R40) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 23 distinct organizations, with 12% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 65% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 2 year-to-year transitions. That is about the 57% median for grantmaking charities -- noticeably lower than the 67% private foundations manage. Organizations like this one rotate more of their list each year, which is where an opening for a newcomer tends to be.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $35,882. Half of what it reported fell between $20,465 and $51,239; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $97,984. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$10,000 - $25,000
12 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
15 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
11 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Future Leaders of AmericaOxnard, CA$179,688332024
Inland Congregation United for Change Sponsoring Committee IncSn Bernrdno, CA$145,649332024
Chinese Progressive AssociationOakland, CA$119,328222024
Buen VecinoWestlake Vlg, CA$117,392222024
Californians for Justice Education Fund IncSan Francisco, CA$115,371332024
Sigma Beta Xi IncMoreno Valley, CA$112,790222024
Community InitiativesOakland, CA$92,520222024
Filipino Advocates for JusticeOakland, CA$85,775222024
Legacy La Youth Development CorporationLos Angeles, CA$78,544112022
Charitable Ventures of Orangecounty IncSanta Ana, CA$77,781222024
Gente OrganizadaPomona, CA$69,382332024
Community Coalition Action FundLos Angeles, CA$50,085112024
Social Justice Learning Institute IncInglewood, CA$42,102112024
Faj Action FundOakland, CA$41,458112024
Lucha Action FundLos Angeles, CA$35,392112024
Services & Immigrant Rights & Education NetworkSan Jose, CA$33,388112022
Beyond ImpactW Hollywood, CA$33,062112024
Innercity StruggleLos Angeles, CA$30,465222024
Communities for a Better EnvironmentHuntington Pk, CA$28,054112024
Center on Race Poverty & EnvironmentDelano, CA$19,127112022
Ryse IncRichmond, CA$14,747112024
Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention & TreatmentLos Angeles, CA$10,000112024
Partnership for the Advancement of New AmericansSan Diego, CA$10,000112022

11 of 23 (48%) received money in more than one year over the 3 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 21 of 23 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Human Services
4 orgs
Civil Rights
3 orgs
Community Improvement
3 orgs
Youth Development
2 orgs
Crime & Legal
2 orgs
Health Care
1 org
Public & Societal Benefit
1 org
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202213$670,441$51,239
20236$122,790$20,465
202419$748,869$35,392

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

Oakland, CA
$339K
Los Angeles, CA
$204K
Oxnard, CA
$180K
Sn Bernrdno, CA
$146K
Westlake Vlg, CA
$117K
San Francisco, CA
$115K
Moreno Valley, CA
$113K
Santa Ana, CA
$78K

Find more funders like Powerca Action

We read newly filed IRS returns and email you the grantmakers whose giving matches your state and cause, as they are published. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

The California Wellness Foundation13 shared recipientsCalifornia Community Foundation13 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund12 shared recipientsLiberty Hill Foundation12 shared recipientsTides Foundation12 shared recipientsAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc12 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $35,882 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding youth development in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Powerca Action's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 15 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 4 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 360 East 2ND Street 325, Los Angeles, CA, 90012.

EIN 45-4091853 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.