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NonprofitTruth

Updated April 2026

By City

Nonprofits in San Francisco, California

29 nonprofits headquartered in San Francisco, California report combined revenue of $17.3B on their most recent IRS Form 990 filings, with an average Efficiency Score of 71/100. Use the directory below to compare individual organizations by program ratio, CEO compensation, and reserves.

San Francisco, California hosts 29 nonprofits filing IRS Form 990, with a combined $17.3B in reported revenue. The largest is Dignity Health at $9.9B in revenue.

City-level nonprofit concentration usually reflects either a large hospital or university system based in the city, plus the smaller community organizations that operate alongside them. Reading the sector concentration tells you more than the raw count. Each organization below links to its full Form 990 profile — revenue history, expense breakdown, CEO compensation, and an efficiency grade against the LakeQuality rubric.

29
Nonprofits
$17.3B
Combined Revenue
71/100
Avg Efficiency

What San Francisco’s Numbers Show

San Francisco, California has a substantial nonprofit footprint on NonprofitTruth, with 29 organizations whose IRS Form 990 lists this city as the principal office. Combined revenue from San Francisco-headquartered nonprofits exceeds $10 billion, putting it in the top tier of U.S. nonprofit cities. The largest single category by revenue is Health.

San Francisco, California is home to 29 of the nonprofits we track. City pages aggregate organizations whose IRS Form 990 lists this city as the principal office — local affiliates of national networks may also operate here without appearing in this list.

The 29 San Francisco nonprofits in this view together report $17.3B in combined annual revenue on their most recent IRS Form 990 filings. Median revenue is $71.1M, and the simple average is $596.2M — a gap that reflects the long-tail distribution typical of the nonprofit sector, where a handful of large organizations account for most aggregate dollars.

Across the 29 San Francisco nonprofits we track, 6 earn an A and 15 earn a B on the Efficiency Score (combined 72% in the top two tiers, with A-grade organizations alone at 21%). Another 8 land at C, 0 at D, and 0 at F — a combined 0% in the bottom two tiers based on program ratio, reserves, growth consistency, and CEO-comp ratio drawn from each organization's most recent Form 990.

Executive compensation detail is reported on Schedule J of the Form 990 and is not always present for every organization in this list — particularly the smaller filers using Form 990-EZ.

All Organizations

Charities in San Francisco

Dignity Health

Health
$9.9B
B

Dignity Community Care

Health
$3.6B
A

University Of California San Francisco Foundation

Education
$1.1B
B

University Of San Francisco

Education
$575.5M
A

Trust For Public Land

Environment & Animals
$297.4M
A

Climate Imperative Foundation

Environment & Animals
$206.7M
B

Shine Bc La

Education
$205.7M
B

Wikimedia Foundation Org

Education
$180.2M
A

Lucas Museum Of Narrative Art

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$154.8M
C

Earthjustice

Environment & Animals
$126.0M
B

Kqed Inc

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$115.1M
B

San Francisco Opera Association

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$85.3M
B

Multiplier

Environment & Animals
$75.0M
A

California Academy Of Sciences

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$71.5M
C

San Francisco Symphony

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$71.1M
C

San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$61.2M
C

The Exploratorium

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$61.0M
C

San Francisco Ballet Association

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$59.8M
B

Corporation Of The Fine Arts Museums

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$54.3M
B

Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Environment & Animals
$52.9M
B

Wildlife Conservation Network Inc

Environment & Animals
$52.5M
A

San Francisco Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals

Environment & Animals
$46.0M
B

Save The Redwoods League

Environment & Animals
$38.8M
B

Common Sense Media

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$34.0M
B

Climate Lead Inc

Environment & Animals
$31.0M
B

Asian Art Museum Foundation Of San Francisco

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$30.7M
C

San Francisco Zoological Society

Environment & Animals
$22.5M
B

San Francisco Ballet Endowment Foundation

Arts, Culture & Humanities
$8.2M
C

Christensen Fund

Environment & Animals
$6.7M
C

How to Read a Local Nonprofit’s Form 990

City-level pages aggregate organizations whose principal office is in San Francisco. That includes locally founded charities, regional affiliates that file independently, and national organizations whose headquarters happen to sit here. Reading any one organization’s 990 starts with Part I (summary), then Part VIII (revenue), Part IX (functional expenses, where the program ratio comes from), and Part VII / Schedule J (compensation).

The NonprofitTruth Efficiency Score is a 0–100 composite that summarizes four signals from the Form 990: program-spending ratio (50% of the score), revenue-growth consistency over multiple years (20%), months of fund reserves on the balance sheet (20%), and CEO compensation as a share of revenue (10%). The grade A–F mapping is purely descriptive — it summarizes the financial structure that the 990 reveals, not the social impact, program quality, or outcomes of the work the organization does. Donors evaluating impact should pair these financial signals with program-level evaluations from sources like Charity Navigator, GiveWell, or the organization's own audited reports.

Many smaller San Francisco organizations file the abbreviated Form 990-EZ. The EZ form does not require the same level of compensation detail as the full 990, so the CEO-pay column may be blank for some entries even when the organization has paid leadership.

Source Data and Verification

All financials on this page come from each organization's IRS Form 990 — the federal information return that 501(c)(3) public charities, private foundations, and most other tax-exempt organizations must file annually. The Form 990 is a public document. We ingest it primarily through the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer feed, which mirrors the IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search dataset. Original e-file XML and PDF copies of any return can be looked up directly at the IRS, ProPublica, or the Candid (formerly GuideStar) directory.

For every San Francisco organization listed above, the underlying Form 990 is available free of charge from the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, or the Candid (GuideStar) directory.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many nonprofits are based in San Francisco, California?

29 organizations whose IRS Form 990 lists San Francisco, California as the principal office address are currently in the NonprofitTruth database. Combined annual revenue is $17.3B, drawn from each organization's most recent 990 filing.

What's the most common nonprofit category in San Francisco?

By aggregate revenue, the largest category among San Francisco nonprofits in our dataset is Health. Click any organization in the list to see its NTEE classification and full Form 990 detail.

Are these the only nonprofits operating in San Francisco?

No — this list shows only organizations whose Form 990 lists San Francisco as the principal office address. National charities with active programs in San Francisco that headquarter elsewhere are listed under their home cities. Local affiliates and chapters of national networks may not appear in this list at all if they file under the parent organization's EIN.

What does the average Efficiency Score of 71/100 mean?

It means that, averaged across the 29 organizations on this page, the typical San Francisco nonprofit lands at 71/100 on the NonprofitTruth Efficiency Score. The score weights program-spending ratio (50%), revenue-growth consistency (20%), reserves (20%), and CEO-comp ratio (10%). It is descriptive of financial structure on the 990, not of program impact.

Where can I see the original Form 990 for these charities?

Click any organization in the list to open its profile, which lists the source filing year. From there the full return is available free at the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and at ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.

29 nonprofits headquartered in San Francisco, California report combined revenue of $17.3B on their most recent IRS Form 990 filings, with an average Efficiency Score of 71/100. Use the directory below to compare individual organizations by program ratio, CEO compensation, and reserves.