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A for Arizona at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

A for Arizona

A FOR ARIZONA is organized and operated for educational purposes and studies, analyzes and educates community leaders and the general public on methods, practices, and policies that prioritize student success, expand access to quality schools and allow school leaders flexibility to be entrepreneurial and innovative, with the goal of…

$13M
Granted FY2024still arriving
24
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$1.9M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Education$42MHuman Services$1.0MHealth$629kYouth Development$540kCivil Rights$100kCommunity Improvement$39k
02FY2024 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $48k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+13 grants · $12M
$346,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WESTERN MARICOPA EDUCATION CENTER$1,854,000
CARTWRIGHT SCHOOL DISTRICT$1,712,000
EMPOWER COLLEGE PREP$1,283,000
CHINLE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT$1,255,000
LAVEEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT #59$1,255,000
MOHAVE VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT$1,159,000
SANTA CRUZ VALLEY USD #35$812,000
FOUNDATION FOR BLIND CHILDREN$629,000
DESERT SAGE SCHOOL$492,000
COLORADO RIVER UNION HS DISTRICT$389,000
HERITAGE ACADEMY$347,000
AVONDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL$346,000
GREATER PHOENIX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE$308,000
ARIZONA AUTISM CHARTER SCHOOLS INC$207,584
MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE CTED - CTEC CAMPUS$189,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–24, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CHICANOS POR LA CAUSA INC: $925k → 11%ESPIRITU COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $119k → 11%ESPIRITU COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $39k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

50%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$22M · 23 repeat orgs$22M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +10% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2024, 8 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
53

Total granted

$22M
$14M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+10%

Still filing today

57%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 40% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7.8M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesCivil RightsPublic Safety & DisasterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • AA
    ARIZONA AUTISM CHARTER SCHOOLS INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $2.6M · revenue +227%
  • EC
    EMPOWER COLLEGE PREP
    3× · 2022–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +2%
  • HA
    HERITAGE ACADEMY INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +36% · 76% of their budget

Funded once

  • OS
    OSBORN SCHOOL DISTRICT #8
    one grant, 2022 · $2.0M
  • CO
    CITY OF CHANDLER
    one grant, 2022 · $2.0M
  • TU
    TOLLESON UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
    one grant, 2022 · $2.0M
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Accelerated Elementary and Secondary Schools

Operation of a private school

Education
2
Ball Charter Schools (Val Vista)

Arizona ball charter schools provides a personalized education to all students emphasizing comprehensive academic excellence in a safe, nurturing environment through partnering parents, students and staff.

Education
3
Prescott Valley Charter School

To provide a safe, positive environment for all students with a strong focus on academic success, student leadership, parental involvement, and community partnership.

Education
4
Ball Charter Schools(Dobson)

Arizona ball charter schools provides a personalized education to all students emphasizing comprehensive academic excellence in a safe, nurturing environment through partnering parents, students and staff.

Education
5
Ball Charter Schools (Hearn)

Arizona ball charter schools provides a personalized education to all students emphasizing comprehensive academic excellence in a safe, nurturing environment through partnering parents, students and staff.

Education
6
Arizona Community Development Corporatio

Education

Education
7
The Paideia Academies Inc

To utilize a family centric model to enlist the support of families in the education and upbringing of the whole child- academic & intellectual, recreational & cultural, character & leadership, emotional, physical & mental health- to…

Education
8
Academy Del Sol

Academy Del Sol's mission is to provide a rigorous and superior academic, social and behavioral education for dedicated and commited students regardless of scioeconomic status, race or ethnicity. This education will instill students with…

Education
9
Montessori Education Centre Charter School

Commitment to development of the whole child by providing students a well-rounded, individualized education and development experience that is grounded on Montessori principles

Education
10
Concordia Charter School

To provide families a choice for a high quality education for their child or children in a safe, caring and harmonious environment.

Education
11
Montessori Day Public Schools Chartered

Montessori based school with the purpose to provide quality education to students in grades kindergarten through 8th. operates as a charter school under a contract with the arizona state board for charter schools.

Education
12
Eagle Arizona

To operate a charter school and educate children. students graduate from eagle well prepared to become inspirations to their families, leaders in their communities, and successes in their workplace.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Charter Schools Foundation; the most unlike its peers is West-Mec Alliance. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

47 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 47 of the 85 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/47
Grantees still filing
30/47
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHINLE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: $3,255,000 · OtherCHINLE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTCRANE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT #13: $2,029,139 · OtherCRANE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT #13OSBORN SCHOOL DISTRICT #8: $2,000,000 · OtherOSBORN SCHOOL DISTRICT #8CITY OF CHANDLER: $2,000,000 · OtherCITY OF CHANDLERTOLLESON UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT: $2,000,000 · OtherTOLLESON UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTCARTWRIGHT SCHOOL DISTRICT: $1,712,000 · OtherCARTWRIGHT SCHOOL DISTRICTTOMBSTONE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT #1: $1,410,000 · OtherLAVEEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT #59: $1,255,000 · OtherCOLORADO RIVER UNION HS DISTRICT: $1,239,000 · OtherMOHAVE VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT: $1,159,000 · Other+33 more: $8,409,722 · Other+33 moreARIZONA AUTISM CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $2,555,584 · EducationARIZONA AUTISM CHARTER SCHOOLS INCEMPOWER COLLEGE PREP: $2,098,000 · EducationEMPOWER COLLEGE PREPWEST-MEC ALLIANCE: $1,854,000 · EducationWEST-MEC ALLIANCEMexicayotl Academy Inc: $1,327,657 · EducationMexicayotl Academy IncHERITAGE ACADEMY INC: $1,277,000 · EducationHERITAGE ACADEMY INCASU PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $1,194,640 · EducationASU PREPARATORY ACADEMY INCVISTA COLLEGE PREPARATORY INC: $1,125,000 · EducationVISTA COLLEGE PREPARATORY INCPHOENIX INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY: $595,000 · Education+26 more: $2,743,300 · Education+26 moreCHICANOS POR LA CAUSA INC CPLC: $925,000 · Human ServicesEspiritu Community Development Corp: $158,000 · Human ServicesFOUNDATION FOR BLIND CHILDREN: $629,000 · HealthBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF FLAGSTAFF: $210,000 · Youth DevelopmentBoys and Girls Club of Bisbee Arizona: $200,000 · Youth DevelopmentJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ARIZONA: $400,000 · InternationalKAIZEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $296,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $8,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$26,468,861Education$14,770,181Human Services$1,083,000Health$629,000Youth Development$410,000International$400,000Arts & Culture$304,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetARIZONA AUTISM CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $2,555,584 over 4y, 11% of budgetEMPOWER COLLEGE PREP: $2,098,000 over 3y, 8.6% of budgetMexicayotl Academy Inc: $1,327,657 over 3y, 28% of budgetHERITAGE ACADEMY INC: $1,277,000 over 2y, 76% of budgetASU PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC: $1,194,640 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetVISTA COLLEGE PREPARATORY INC: $1,125,000 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetCHICANOS POR LA CAUSA INC CPLC: $925,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR BLIND CHILDREN: $629,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetPHOENIX INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY: $595,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetDESERT SAGE SCHOOL: $492,000 over 1y, 31% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ARIZONA: $400,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetGREATER PHOENIX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: $308,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetPensar Academy: $300,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetLEMAN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE INC: $300,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKAIZEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $296,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetAMERICAN CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $249,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF FLAGSTAFF: $210,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetBoys and Girls Club of Bisbee Arizona: $200,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetSUCCESS SCHOOL: $200,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetMORRISON EDUCATION GROUP INC: $200,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetBlack Mothers Forum Inc: $200,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetMADISON HIGHLAND PREP: $171,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetCAMP CATANESE FOUNDATION: $166,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetEspiritu Community Development Corp: $158,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INC: $130,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetACADEMY OF BUILDING INDUSTRIES INC: $125,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetEDKEY INC: $110,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLiberty Traditional Charter School: $95,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCHALLENGE SCHOOL INC: $85,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetWESTERN SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: $65,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSELF DEVELOPMENT ACADEMY - PHOENIX: $54,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetLOVE YOUR SCHOOL: $40,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetGREATHEARTS ARIZONA: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHIGHLAND PREP: $36,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSOMERSET ACADEMY ARIZONA INC: $34,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetMIDTOWN PRIMARY SCHOOL: $25,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSouthern AZ Research Science & Eng FDN: $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetLITERACY CONNECTS: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSCHOLARSHIPSA Z: $25,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetCASA ACADEMY INC: $15,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetEDISON PROJECT: $8,300 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetACADEMY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE SOUTH INC: $8,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTELLI-SCHOOL: $6,334 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPAS CHARTER INC: $6,333 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetS C JENSEN CORPORATION INC: $6,333 over 1y, 0.7% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds ARIZONA AUTISM CHARTER SCHOOLS INC ↗
  • Who funds EMPOWER COLLEGE PREP ↗
  • Who funds WEST-MEC ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds Mexicayotl Academy Inc ↗
  • Who funds HERITAGE ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds ASU PREPARATORY ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds VISTA COLLEGE PREPARATORY INC ↗
  • Who funds CHICANOS POR LA CAUSA INC CPLC ↗
  • Who funds FOUNDATION FOR BLIND CHILDREN ↗
  • Who funds PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds DESERT SAGE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ARIZONA ↗
  • Who funds GREATER PHOENIX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ↗
  • Who funds Pensar Academy ↗
  • Who funds LEMAN ACADEMY OF EXCELLENCE INC ↗
  • Who funds KAIZEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CHARTER SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Arizona Community Fou…GenYOUTH IncorporatedKids Need to ReadBurton Family Foundat…Share Our StrengthSt Mary's Food Bank A…Musical Instrument Mu…Fiesta Events IncArizona Food Bank Net…Valley of the Sun Uni…Phoenix Suns Charitie…Arizona Diamondbacks …
Arizona Community FoundationAZ52× affinity34 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · GenYOUTH Incorporated · Kids Need to Read · Burton Family Foundation · Share Our Strength · St Mary's Food Bank Alliance · Musical Instrument Museum · Fiesta Events Inc · Arizona Food Bank Network · Valley of the Sun United Way · Phoenix Suns Charities Inc · Arizona Diamondbacks Foundationinc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization A for Arizona funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from A for Arizona. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    27report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 85 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2024, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on A for Arizona’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home