In the first several years, SPARC received a great deal of support from governmental juvenile justice funding sources such as the Summer Youth Employment Program, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Flood Control District. The Jewish Community Foundation also provided funding in 1981 and 1983. With increased recognition, groups such as the National Endowment of the Arts, the California Council for the Humanities, and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee provided necessary funding to complete the first half-mile of mural in the summer of 1983. 

In recent years, increased private donations and public sector grants have come from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, the California Natural Resources Agency, the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District, Annenberg Foundation, and Alston & Bird, LLP.

By including the Great Wall in its national monuments project, The Mellon Foundation has made possible the completion of the bridge and the extension of the wall’s imagery.

Elected officials including CA State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Assemblywoman Luz Rivas, LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Congressman Tony Cárdenas, Councilmember Paul Krekorian, Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, and U.S. Senator Bob Hertzberg have been instrumental in recent years.