Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
AARP FOUNDATION
AARP FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 473 organizations whose IRS filings report $152,199,150 to it, the largest being NATIONAL CAUCUS AND CENTER ON BLACK AGING INC ($80,637,317). 257 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $203M
- Funders on record
- 473
- Grants received
- $152M
- Net assets
- $673M
What AARP Foundation does
Mission
AARP Foundation creates and advances effective solutions to reduce poverty for and with older adults.see schedule oAARP Foundation (the "foundation") works for and with vulnerable people over 50 to end senior poverty and reduce financial hardship by building economic opportunity. As a charitable affiliate of aarp, the foundation serves aarp members and nonmembers alike. Through vigorous legal advocacy and evidence-based solutions, and by strengthening supportive community connections, the foundation fosters resilience and restores hope.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Economic mobility programs provide direct services nationwide to older adults with low income who are seeking training and employment. This includes the senior community service employment program (scsep), back to work 50+, and other workforce development initiatives, which connect unemployed adults age 55 and older with training opportunities, skill-building experiences, and employment pathways through partnerships with local non-profits, public agencies, and employers.
$97,059,898 spentof which $69,215,997 as grants64% of program spendingVolunteer programs provide support for teams of volunteers that help older adults with low income and bring a sense of purpose back into the lives of older adult volunteers. This includes AARP Foundation tax-aide, which relies on more than 28,000 volunteers nationwide to provide free tax preparation and filing assistance, especially to older adults with low to moderate income. Tax-aide volunteers are trained and irs-certified annually and typically help taxpayers receive close to $1 billion in refunds and credits every year. Additional programs include experience corps, a community-based, program that engages highly trained volunteers over 50 as tutors and mentors to help k-3 students become better readers by the end of third grade.
$23,269,613 spentof which $1,580,922 as grants$221,971 earned by the program15% of program spendingLitigation programs engage in litigation to ensure that older adults have a voice and proper representation in the legal system. The foundation's attorneys file and support lawsuits that have a significant impact on senior poverty by reducing barriers to employment, increasing access to public and private benefits, and protecting consumers.
$6,598,447 spent4% of program spendingFinancial wellbeing programs provide support to help older adults with low income maximize the public benefits for which they are eligible and thereby improve their financial wellbeing. This includes services that enable older adults to enroll in the supplemental nutrition assistance program (snap) for food assistance, as well as medicaid, medicare savings programs, and the low-income subsidy program to afford healthcare and prescription medications.
$8,791,477 spentof which $3,698,530 as grants6% of program spendingOther programs and services - the foundation achieves its goals through various other programmatic activities designed to assist older adults, including disaster response, grants to other not-for-profit organizations, as well as expenses associated with managing, developing, and evaluating the success and impact of programs.
$16,519,970 spentof which $4,397,035 as grants$160,940 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $152,239,405.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $439M to $599M (+36%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 33% · 2018 30% · 2019 29% · 2020 47% · 2021 36% · 2022 48% · 2023 57% · 2024 51%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of AARP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (17% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Libby Sartain
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 78 funders to 146 funders, grant income rose $14M → $22M.
30 of 473 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $227M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest AARP); $18M from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest National Experienced Workforce Solutions). These are real filings, and they are not money AARP FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of AARP FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 473 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AARP FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
91% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AARP FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 61% · 2019 58% · 2020 43% · 2021 48% · 2022 42% · 2023 55% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
32% of AARP FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
59% of AARP FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $16M arriving through sponsors registered in 21 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AARP FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 248 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 248 human services nonprofits over $100M, FY2024
Government funding AARP FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $520.2M on record — $514.0M federal, $6.3M state.
- Department of Labor$374.4M
- Department of the Treasury$116.2M
- Corporation for National and Community Service$19.2M
- Department of Justice$4.3M
- Smithsonian Institution$15k
- FL$4.6M
- MD$1.6M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AARP FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 39 states
Part of a family of 9 related entities
- AARP (Consolidated) · exempt
- Legal Counsel for the Elderly · exempt
- AARP Insurance Plan · exempt
- Wish of a Lifetime · exempt
- Older Adults Technology Services · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AARP FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AARP FOUNDATION?
- AARP FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 473 organizations whose IRS filings report $152,199,150 to it, the largest being NATIONAL CAUCUS AND CENTER ON BLACK AGING INC ($80,637,317). 257 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AARP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 473 organizations giving $152,199,150 in grants to AARP FOUNDATION, 257 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AARP FOUNDATION?
- NATIONAL CAUCUS AND CENTER ON BLACK AGING INC is the largest funder on record, with $80,637,317 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AARP FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 473 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing