Colorado · Nonprofit
ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION
ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION (Colorado) receives grants from 270 organizations whose IRS filings report $158,553,555 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($68,785,797). 169 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $75M
- Funders on record
- 270
- Grants received
- $159M
- Net assets
- $91M
What Alliance for Choice in Education does
Mission
The organization's mission is to advance k-12 educational freedom, with a focus on securing financial support for families so they may access the quality education of their choice.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Ace administers two scholarship programs: a privately funded program in arkansas, colorado, delaware, hawaii, kansas, mississippi, missouri, montana, new mexico, texas, utah, and wyoming, and a tax credit scholarship program in louisiana and arkansas, montana, and kansas (sgo).(continued on schedule o.) ace's private program awards scholarships to children from low-income families wanting private schooling from kindergarten to high school. Low-income is defined in accordance with the federal poverty guidelines. Policies and procedures administering the private scholarship program are reviewed and approved by the ace program committee. Ace also serves as a state-approved school tuition organization in the louisiana tuition donation tax credit program and awards scholarships to qualified students in adherence to state statutes and rules and regulations published by the louisiana department of education. Ace is also registered as a scholarship granting organization (sgo) within kansas tax credit program and student scholarship organization (sso) within montana tax credit program.
$54,445,854 spentof which $44,413,498 as grants88% of program spendingAce is a program manager for education savings accounts (esas). In addition to ace's core scholarship program, ace was also a program manager for education savings accounts (esas). Esas are funded by state governments so that families can pay tuition for private schools, homeschooling supplies, curriculum materials, or educational therapy services. In november of 2023, ace contracted with the utah state board of education to program manage their state funded utah fits all (ufa) esa program, with 10,000 esas worth $80 million funded in july of 2024. Ace terminated the contract with the utah state board of education during the year ended june 30, 2025.
$7,563,584 spentof which $4,948,000 as grants$2,615,584 earned by the program12% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $62,009,438.
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 2017 to 2018, from $19M to $37M (+90%).
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: 2021 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Norton Rainey
CEO
Board chair
Joe Smith
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 61 funders to 118 funders, grant income rose $5.4M → $35M.
38 of 270 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 64% 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 ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 270 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
ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 56%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% 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 ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 28% · 2019 42% · 2020 14% · 2021 30% · 2022 56% · 2023 58% — growing more concentrated.
“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
47% of ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
64% of ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $57M that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 32 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $101M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Part of a family of 16 related entities
- Ace Scholarships Arkansas · disregarded
- Ace Scholarships Colorado · disregarded
- Ace Scholarships Delaware · disregarded
- Ace Scholarships Hawaii LLC · disregarded
- Ace Scholarships Kansas · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION: 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 ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION?
- ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION (Colorado) receives grants from 270 organizations whose IRS filings report $158,553,555 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($68,785,797). 169 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 64% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION have?
- IRS filings report 270 organizations giving $158,553,555 in grants to ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION, 169 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $68,785,797 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ALLIANCE FOR CHOICE IN EDUCATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 270 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