Skip to content

Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

Acton Academy DC Foundation

Acton Academy DC Foundation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,325,000 to it, the largest being DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION INC ($350,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$138k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$1.3M
Net assets
$44k
7/12 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Acton Academy DC Foundation does

Mission

Our mission is to inspire children and parents to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, discover a calling, and change the world.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.

Programs

  1. Acton Venture Fund accelerates the growth of the Acton Academy network. The program finds, funds, and supports exceptional Acton network entrepreneurs.

    $113,172 spent
    46% of program spending
  2. Acton Learning Prizes & Innovation Awards celebrate excellence among the 300+ Acton Academy Network schools and encourage innovations to make Actons simpler, better, and less expensive to form.

    $112,164 spent
    46% of program spending
  3. The Acton Childrens Business Fair of Washington, DC is a one-day event where children ages 6-14 become entrepreneurs for a day. Children create a business, sell to real customers, and keep the profits. Along the way, children learn about entrepreneurship but, more importantly, about themselves and what they are capable of.

    $19,024 spent
    8% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $244,360.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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.

100 = 20182018 Revenue 100 ($405k) Expenses 100 ($324k) Net assets 100 ($87k)2019 Revenue 85 ($344k) Expenses 112 ($364k) Net assets 77 ($67k)2020 Revenue 92 ($373k) Expenses 75 ($242k) Net assets 228 ($198k)2021 Revenue 32 ($129k) Expenses 76 ($246k) Net assets 94 ($81k)2022 Revenue 55 ($221k) Expenses 85 ($277k) Net assets 30 ($26k)2023 Revenue 58 ($235k) Expenses 82 ($265k) Net assets -4 ($-3646)2024 Revenue 34 ($138k) Expenses 28 ($91k) Net assets 50 ($44k)
2018201920202021202220232024
Revenue (34)Expenses (28)Net assets (50)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $71k to $198k (+177%).

$87k
$71k
$198k
$81k
$36k
$4k
$44k
2018201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

98% of Acton Academy DC Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$81k
’18
−$20k
’19
$131k
’20
−$117k
’21
−$56k
’22
−$29k
’23
$47k
’24
0.2
months of
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.

20182019202020222023
Listed44444
Joined·+0+0·+0
No longer listed·00·0
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $95k → $60k.

2 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of Acton Academy DC Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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

Acton Academy DC Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 26% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

26%
largest funder
66%
top three
~6
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 29% · 2019 59% · 2020 65% · 2021 67% · 2022 100% · 2023 42% — 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

20% of Acton Academy DC Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

Acton Academy DC Foundation draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 6 states in all.

IL
PA
CA
VA
MD
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $110k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Acton Academy DC Foundation runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin34% · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−16% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Acton Academy DC 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

46%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Acton Academy DC 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Acton Academy DC Foundation?
Acton Academy DC Foundation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,325,000 to it, the largest being DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION INC ($350,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Acton Academy DC Foundation have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,325,000 in grants to Acton Academy DC Foundation, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Acton Academy DC Foundation?
DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $350,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Acton Academy DC 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 2018–2024), and the filings of 12 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing