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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

AIRLINK INC

AIRLINK INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,234,012 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($2,000,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$13M
Funders on record
76
Grants received
$11M
Net assets
$8.5M
32/76 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 29%
01What it does

What Airlink Inc does

Mission

Airlink is a nonprofit organization working with aviation and logistics partners to transport relief workers and emergency supplies for reputable non-governmental organizations (ngos) responding to rapid-onset disasters and other humanitarian crises around the globe.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Airlink, inc. (airlink) is a free service provider to help humanitarian non-governmental organizations connect with commercial airlines to obtain discounted and donated cargo and passenger flights. Airlink is primarily supported by public, private, and corporate contributions and donated services, airline miles, and facilities. In 2024, airlink conducted responses and recovery projects to 56 disasters and humanitarian crises by assisting 103 nonprofit partners in the transportation of 1,861 relief workers and 856,706 kgs of emergency supplies which reached communities on six continents and in 56 countries. The value of the air transportation provided by airlink and 28 airline and logistics partners was $8,477,426.

    $10,889,445 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,889,445.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.6M) Expenses 100 ($1.2M) Net assets 100 ($2.9M)2018 Revenue 47 ($1.2M) Expenses 143 ($1.7M) Net assets 85 ($2.4M)2019 Revenue 118 ($3.1M) Expenses 173 ($2.0M) Net assets 123 ($3.5M)2020 Revenue 188 ($4.9M) Expenses 353 ($4.1M) Net assets 152 ($4.3M)2021 Revenue 198 ($5.2M) Expenses 344 ($4.0M) Net assets 195 ($5.6M)2022 Revenue 591 ($16M) Expenses 1018 ($12M) Net assets 325 ($9.3M)2023 Revenue 600 ($16M) Expenses 1444 ($17M) Net assets 290 ($8.3M)2024 Revenue 499 ($13M) Expenses 1105 ($13M) Net assets 300 ($8.5M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (499)Expenses (1105)Net assets (300)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 2021 to 2022, from $5.7M to $10M (+76%).

$2.9M
$2.6M
$3.7M
$4.5M
$5.7M
$10M
$9.1M
$11M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 5% · 2023 4% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

98% of AIRLINK INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 391 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.5M
’17
−$437k
’18
$1.1M
’19
$848k
’20
$1.2M
’21
$3.7M
’22
−$991k
’23
$288k
’24
2.1
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.

Chief executive

Steven J Smith

President & CEO

Board chair

Todd Freeman

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1616171618181920
Joined·+2+4+3+6+2+1+4
No longer listed·2344203
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $130k → $768k.

19 of 76 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 AIRLINK INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 76 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

AIRLINK INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

59% 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 AIRLINK INC.

18%
largest funder
49%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 57% · 2019 54% · 2020 58% · 2021 65% · 2022 41% · 2023 34% — 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

24% of AIRLINK INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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

AIRLINK INC draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 20 states in all.

ID
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
VA
MD
DE
KS
NC
DC
GA
FL

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. $4.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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

AIRLINK INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 363 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin2% · above the median
Months of reserve2.1mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)26% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding AIRLINK INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.1M on record.

Federal$2.1M
grants $2.1Mcontracts $0
22
23
24
Top agencies
  • Agency for International Development$2.1M

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 AIRLINK INC

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.

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 8%Fundraising 7%

Governance

16
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

66%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

VA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AIRLINK INC: 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 AIRLINK INC?
AIRLINK INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 76 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,234,012 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($2,000,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does AIRLINK INC have?
IRS filings report 76 organizations giving $11,234,012 in grants to AIRLINK INC, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of AIRLINK INC?
CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like AIRLINK INC 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.

Play a game about who funds Airlink →

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 76 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