Arizona · Nonprofit
ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (Arizona) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,939,413 to it, the largest being Servant Foundation ($3,500,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $53M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $12M
- Net assets
- $20M
What Arizona Christian University does
Mission
Arizona Christian University provides a biblically-integrated, liberal arts education equipping graduates to serve the lord jesus christ in all aspects of life, as leaders of influence and excellence.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Arizona Christian University is an institute of higher education dedicated to training graduates to serve the lord jesus christ as leaders of influence and excellence. Based in glendale, az, acu has three biblically integrated graduate degrees in christian leadership, marriage and family therapy, and education. Founded recently, acu's programs have grown rapidly and begun to send leaders into the world with a world-class education and a purpose to transform culture with truth.
$43,155,255 spentof which $19,722,992 as grants$37,406,584 earned by the program88% of program spendingAuxiliary services & outreach ministries:Arizona Christian University provides student life programs, updated facilities for students, and extra-curricular activities to further enhance the educational experience for each student. Acu provides opportunities for students to fulfill the university's mission to engage the world for jesus christ and transform culture with truth. The university helps connect students with ministries and service opportunities in the surrounding community as well as provides the opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to participate in international mission trips.
$5,927,750 spent$8,176,733 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: $49,083,005.
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 $29M to $49M (+72%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 14% · 2022 6% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
13% of ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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
Mr Michael Farris
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $98k → $1.8M.
18 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
74% 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 ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 51% · 2019 49% · 2020 94% · 2021 50% · 2022 78% · 2023 36% — 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 ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% 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
70% of ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY'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 $3.7M that is directly attributable, 87% of it comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY has grown faster than half of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.8M on record.
- Department of Education$5.8M
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 ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Charitable Remainder Trust (1) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY: 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 ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY?
- ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (Arizona) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,939,413 to it, the largest being Servant Foundation ($3,500,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $11,939,413 in grants to ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY?
- Servant Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $3,500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Arizona Christian University →
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 53 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