GiveBetter x Los Angeles

Breathe Southern California

Asthma support, lung-health education and clean-air advocacy

Research time: ~11 min on GPT-6 Astra Light
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.

Updated: 2026-09-14

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Summary

What do they do? Breathe Southern California provides asthma support, clean-air education and advocacy, and has expanded local purifier distribution following the Boyle Heights warehouse fire. BEAM serves Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, so its California scope cannot be copied into this edition. A judgment best estimate prices BEAM asthma-support health against full recipient costs, with broad ranges; purifier and policy effects remain separately unpriced.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • A current insured asthma pathway and original accounts establish real operations and recipient-scale costs.

  • Home-asthma randomized evidence supplies a finite symptom-day bridge instead of equating visits with health.

  • Named LA purifier distribution locations and public-agency response documents make geography and substitution questions concrete.

Our main reservations:

  • Insurer-covered asthma and a separate public purifier program may replace services credited to private gifts.

  • The priced BEAM pathway omits potentially important purifier and policy effects, so it is not a complete portfolio ranking.

  • Annual marginal patients, county mix, effective purifier use and health-relevant exposure reductions are unknown; past matching claims are not current offers.

What do you get for your dollar? $428.3M per better life: ten additional quality-adjusted life years in Los Angeles. Full recipient cost / BEAM asthma-support health only; judgment estimate, not measured whole-portfolio return..

Additional LA asthma-support patient-years and symptom-free patient-days; additional effective occupied-room exposure-days from purifier use; implementation-induced exposure reduction. Patients, devices, screenings, maps and public grants are not health outcomes.

1. What do they do?

Breathe Southern California (EIN 95-1641451) is distinct from similarly named Northern California organizations. The BEAM page currently limits eligibility to Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. LA County is within this edition; San Bernardino is outside, and Orange County patients are not listed as eligible. The current homepage reports over 300 patients during 2024–2026, not an annual or gift-induced caseload.

The official events list also describes August 2026 purifier distributions to named neighborhoods and cities entirely in LA County. BlueSky LA and building-decarbonization outreach have different mechanisms; workshops, maps and equipment counts are not themselves health outcomes. No donation, processor transaction or endorsement was made.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

A randomized King County study of 373 Medicaid-enrolled children found an additional 2.10 symptom-free days per two weeks (95% CI 1.17–3.05) and 1.31 fewer urgent-care events over 12 months. Its structured multi-contact intervention differs from a visit with optional follow-up. Outcomes included self-report, and caregiver questionnaire points are not preference-based QALYs. Randomized Medicaid childhood-asthma home-visit outcomes and costs

The adult HomeBASE trial similarly improved symptom-free days and asthma-related quality of life but did not improve unscheduled health-care use. This supports a morbidity pathway while cautioning against automatically assigning hospitalization savings or childhood effects to every adult. HomeBASE randomized adult asthma trial

For BEAM, request unique-patient baseline severity, completed visits and supplies, symptom days or validated utility at follow-up, hospital claims, retention and alternative-provider availability. Compare against contemporaneous usual care and avoid selecting only high-utilization patients at a temporary peak. The public workshop page describes instruction, not controlled follow-up demonstrating fewer exacerbations. Lung Power education workshops

For the new purifier response, obtain unique households, public-program eligibility, already-owned equipment, distribution dates, room size, effective clean-air delivery, actual use, replacement filters, baseline particulate exposure and symptom outcomes. A randomized HEPA trial found fewer unscheduled asthma visits but no significant symptom difference among smoke-exposed asthmatic children; it does not validate assigning the multi-contact BEAM trial benefit to each purifier. Warehouse-smoke, odor and later background pollution exposures are distinct.

3. Qualitative assessment

The clinical and environmental pathways are plausible, but their marginal funding mechanisms differ. A new gift might support navigation for otherwise unserved patients, effective filter use or people outside a public program's footprint. That hypothesis needs a costed queue and comparison against services already available.

The public Palos response distinguishes the June smoke episode from ongoing cleanup monitoring and odors. It reports up to $5 million additional purifier funding, direct shipment and three years of replacement filters for eligible residents. This is an alternative-provider counterfactual—not funding received by Breathe. It makes gross distribution counts a particularly weak proxy for private-donation impact.

The organization's LinkedIn account reports thousands of purifiers and a matching appeal ending September 4; the exact post date and subsequent fulfillment are unverified. That deadline has passed, so no active match or remaining donor gap is assumed. AAFA's partner account documents an order of 300 upgraded Rabbit Air units, not that the entire shipment was donated. The policy portfolio needs its own finite exposure and coalition-attribution model.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

The donor-facing judgment best estimate is approximately $428.3 million per 10 LA QALYs for the BEAM asthma-support pathway, charging the full recipient annual cost. It is a partial-health estimate, not an expected return for all purifier, advocacy and other activities. Missing measurements widen uncertainty; they do not by themselves invalidate a transparent finite estimate.

The central BEAM judgment uses full recipient annual expenses of $2,923,727, 100 annual courses (a judgment from the 300-plus cumulative count across three calendar-year labels), 25% marginal funding responsiveness, and a 50% LA-resident share. The latter is an explicit neutral scenario over the two named counties, not observed caseload or population weighting. Transferring half the childhood trial's symptom-day effect, retaining 75% for within-year timing, and assigning utility difference 0.10 gives about 0.00546 discounted QALYs per additional course over one year. The scenario yields about 0.0683 LA QALYs, or about $428.3 million per 10 LA QALYs. It is a priced component, not a whole-portfolio estimate or recommendation. The annual course count is weakly anchored to a cumulative count, not measured throughput; the utility and funding inputs are explicit subjective priors.

At that clinical bridge, a $1 million price per 10 QALYs would require 5353.7 additional LA patient-years per annual recipient-cost normalization, compared with 12.5 in the conditional scenario. The corresponding maximum full-recipient cost is $546.12 per additional LA course; for a $100,000 target it is ten times tighter. These are exact break-even quantities, not forecast patient demand. No mortality, lifetime cure or overlapping hospitalization QALYs are added.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Ordinary gift/full recipient annual cost normalization, not a restricted BEAM or emergency-purifier gift. Latest annual cost is historical and predates 2026 response; insurer/public resources not subtracted.

BEAM LA+San Bernardino county eligibility requires exclusion of San Bernardino; g_LA=.5 is only a judgment scenario, varied .2-.9. Named 2026 purifier-event neighborhoods lie within LA County, so g_LA=1 can apply to those specifically verified households, not to all recipient activity or effects.

Q_LA(D)=(D/C)*N*b*(deltaSFD14/14)*deltaU*r*w*T*g/(1+d) + Q_filter_LA(D)+Q_policy_other_LA(D)-H_LA(D). C=2923727; central judgment N=100, b=.25, deltaSFD14=2.1, deltaU=.1, r=.5, w=.75, T=1, g=.5, d=.03. Filter skeleton: effective additional occupied-room person-days * health gain per reduced exposure-day; both unknown after alternative provision. Price=10*D/Q only for identified positive scope.

C
2923727 USD annual recipient expenses (observed). FY 2025 original accrual return; predates 2026 response. [990-25]
N
100 annual BEAM courses, diagnostic (judgment). 300-plus cumulative patients over 2024–2026 divided by three calendar-year labels; not an observed annual run-rate. [home]
b
0.25 marginal funding responsiveness (judgment). Possible navigation/capacity margin after payer/provider substitution; no verified gap. [beam] [chw]
g
0.5 LA+Orange resident share of diagnostic BEAM benefit (judgment). Equal-share scenario for two named counties, not observed distribution. San Bernardino excluded; Orange not listed eligible. [beam]
deltaSFD14
2.1 symptom-free days per fortnight (observed). External childhood RCT benchmark; not BEAM. [rct]
deltaU
0.1 utility difference on extra symptom-free day (judgment). Preference-weight bridge not measured for BEAM.
r
0.5 trial effect retained (judgment). Adult/child mix, visit intensity and modern usual care differ. [rct] [adult]
w
0.75 within-year effect timing retained (judgment). Avoid full endpoint effect credited before treatment.
T
1 years (judgment). No later years or asthma cure credited.
d
0.03 annual discount rate (judgment). One-year discount on finite morbidity benefit.
Q_filter_LA
null incremental LA QALYs (unknown). Need unique effective use, additionality relative to AQMD and existing stock, pollutant exposure and duration; not filter count. [events26] [palos] [hepa-rct]
Q_policy_other_LA
null incremental LA QALYs (unknown). Need finite implementation/dose/coalition bridge. [advocacy]
publicPurifierFunding
5000000 USD additional approved funding ceiling (observed). AQMD program, not Breathe funding or actual expenditures; substitution context only. [palos]

Judgment best estimate: BEAM health at full recipient cost: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0.06826456310679611; all-population QALYs: 0.13652912621359223. N = 100; b = 0.25; g = 0.5; deltaSFD14 = 2.1; deltaU = 0.1; r = 0.5; w = 0.75; T = 1; d = 0.03.

Weak annual delivery, responsiveness and health transfer: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0.00013106796116504855; all-population QALYs: 0.0006553398058252427. N=30; b=.05; deltaSFD14=2.1; deltaU=.03; r=.2; w=.5; T=1; g=.2; d=.03. Joint judgment stress case, not confidence limits.

Strong asthma margin and local share; not confidence bound: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: 5.898058252427185; all-population QALYs: 6.553398058252427. N = 300; b = 0.75; g = 0.9; deltaU = 0.2; r = 1; w = 1. Other clinical assumptions are unchanged.

Full substitution or no health improvement: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: 0; all-population QALYs: 0. No additional health beyond existing payer/public/private provision.

Unquantified adverse net effect remains possible: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: unknown; all-population QALYs: unknown. Ineffective use, exposure substitution and harmful policy trade-offs not assigned a fabricated negative bound.

Illustrative net harm, not a measured bound: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: -0.1; all-population QALYs: -0.1. A net .1 LA QALY loss from displaced care or adverse effects; explicit stress test, not observed.

Unpriced remaining portfolio pathways: Cost: $2.9M; Los Angeles QALYs: unknown; all-population QALYs: unknown. Purifier response and policy may add or subtract health; no invented amount is added to the BEAM estimate.

Counterfactual: Medi-Cal asthma preventive services/Community Supports, alternative providers, existing purifiers, AQMD funded distribution, donors and partner resources continue absent a new gift. A gift cannot retroactively change June smoke exposure, past distributions or an expired match.

Attribution: b is a subjective marginal responsiveness factor combining recipient allocation/capacity and substitution; clinical r and within-year w are separate. Do not apply both BEAM multimodal symptom gains and filtration gains to the same patient's same symptoms. Policy benefits need coalition counterfactual and geographic exposure allocation.

Finite judgment best estimate with broad joint scenarios, zero and harm. Unknown observed marginal inputs do not require suppressing the priced asthma pathway. The central is partial health at full gift cost, not a measured unrestricted-portfolio expectation.

Sensitivity

  • At diagnostic clinical bridge, $1 million/10 QALYs requires full-recipient cost per additional LA course <=$546.1165048543688.
  • g=.2 or .9 yields 40% or 180% of diagnostic LA health. No population weighting claimed.
  • All unpriced pathways can dominate the BEAM component; adding a portfolio uplift without native evidence would manufacture value.
  • Public funding may enable private navigation rather than substitute completely; measure additional enrollment/use and time saved, not just grant totals.
  • FY 2025 costs versus a larger 2026 response require current marginal budget; cost cannot safely be inferred from an expired matching appeal.

Unresolved inputs

  • Current unrestricted allocation, grant restrictions and costed unmet queue across asthma and purifier response.
  • Unique annual BEAM courses by county, completed service intensity and alternative payer/provider response.
  • Purifier households not already covered by AQMD, effective operating time, clean-air delivery, pollutant-specific exposure and health benefit.
  • Current post-September 4 appeal status; no active match established.
  • Finite policy health and geography model, avoiding attribution of all California burden to one coalition member.

5. Funding and previous grants

Original accrual returns for fiscal years ending June report expenses of $2,075,948 in 2023, $2,305,383 in 2024 and $2,923,727 in 2025: a three-year mean of $2,435,019.33. The 2024 return supplies the 2023 comparative. Its $4,719,274 revenue included $2,441,575 miscellaneous income; that unusually large category should not be assumed recurring clinical revenue. Original Form 990, fiscal year ending June 2024 with 2023 comparative totals

For 2025, revenue was $2,573,083, including $1,527,260 contributions and $814,003 rent. The return classifies every expense as program, with zero management/fundraising allocation; this does not establish zero overhead. It reports no independent financial-statement audit. Net assets were $10,700,896, including $4,612,972 restricted; Schedule O labels a $1,092,063 reconciliation addition only as a book/tax difference. Those facts merit clarification rather than interpreting the $350,644 revenue-expense deficit as proof that every gift funds additional care. Original Form 990, fiscal year ending June 2025

Government-grant and program-fee rows on that historical return do not negate the current contracts on the BEAM page. Detailed payer receipts, current BEAM cost centers and contract reimbursement margins are needed before allocating ordinary donations. BEAM services, eligibility, counties and managed-care contracts

DHCS's finalized update removes assessment and self-management education from the Asthma Remediation Community Support beginning January 2026 because the Asthma Preventive Services benefit covers them; physical supplies and modifications remain complementary remediation services. This is a separation to avoid duplication, not elimination of all asthma support. The old all-in-one description should not be used to infer a new donor gap or a flat payment received for each patient. Final asthma-remediation definitions and January 2026 benefit separation

Current DHCS resources describe a provider enrollment pathway for community organizations delivering asthma preventive services. A gift might improve access, pay unreimbursed navigation or serve people otherwise excluded, but a costed unmet queue and the alternative plan/provider response were not found. Current CHW and asthma provider enrollment resources

Fresh LA review checked the retained original FY 2024/FY 2025 returns against the current index: FY 2025 remains the latest listed return. Parts VIII report no separate netted rental or event costs to add; reported zero expense allocations are not evidence of genuinely zero overhead. These accounts predate the 2026 warehouse response. A current response budget, grants and in-kind inventory are therefore needed before treating historical cost as current capacity. No active matching multiplier is used.

The original FY2023 return was independently reopened for this revision. Part IX confirms $2,075,948; the accrual checkbox is selected and Part VIII reports no separately netted rental, event, gaming or inventory costs. The comparable three-year reported-gross mean is therefore $2,435,019.33. Blank addback rows do not prove that volunteer resources or economic overhead are zero. Original FY2023 return

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2023: $2.1M; Breathe Southern California, EIN 95-1641451, 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 total expenses; fiscal year ending June 30; no separately netted direct costs identified. Source
  • FY 2024: $2.3M; Breathe Southern California, EIN 95-1641451, 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 total expenses; fiscal year ending June 30; no separately netted direct costs identified. Source
  • FY 2025: $2.9M; Breathe Southern California, EIN 95-1641451, 12-month period, Accrual Form 990 total expenses; fiscal year ending June 30; no separately netted direct costs identified. Source

6. Sources

  1. Current portfolio and cumulative service counts. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  2. BEAM services, eligibility, counties and managed-care contracts. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  3. Lung Power education workshops. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  4. Current advocacy portfolio and historical campaigns. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  5. Ordinary donation route. Breathe Southern California via Zeffy. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  6. Randomized Medicaid childhood-asthma home-visit outcomes and costs. Campbell et al., American Journal of Public Health. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  7. HomeBASE randomized adult asthma trial. Krieger et al., JAMA Internal Medicine. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  8. Final asthma-remediation definitions and January 2026 benefit separation. California DHCS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  9. Current CHW and asthma provider enrollment resources. California DHCS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  10. Chaptered AB 1003 text. California Legislature. Published: 2025-10-13; retrieved: 2026-09-13.
  11. Original Form 990, fiscal year ending June 2025. Breathe Southern California / IRS via ProPublica. Published: 2026-05-15; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  12. Original Form 990, fiscal year ending June 2024 with 2023 comparative totals. Breathe Southern California / IRS via ProPublica. Published: 2025-05-15; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  13. Official 2026 community events and purifier eligibility. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  14. Building-decarbonization support. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  15. BlueSky LA programs. Breathe Southern California. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  16. 2026 Palos Fire / Lineage Cleanup and Recovery; public purifier funding. South Coast AQMD. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  17. Organization-authored purifier response and past matching appeal; post date unverified. Breathe Southern California via LinkedIn. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  18. AAFA 2026 certified-partner community response. AAFA / Asthma & Allergy Friendly. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  19. HEPA air cleaners: randomized asthma visit and symptom outcomes. Lanphear et al.; Pediatrics. Published: 2010-12-13; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  20. Current IRS filing index, freshness check. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-09-14.
  21. Original FY2023 Form 990; accrual and netted-cost rows independently reopened. Breathe Southern California / IRS. Published: 2024-05-15; retrieved: 2026-09-14.