Colorado · Nonprofit
Ascend College Prep
Ascend College Prep (Colorado) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $80,000 to it, the largest being DANIELS FUND ($80,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $80k
- Net assets
- $155k
What Ascend College Prep does
Mission
Ascend College Prep is a public high school for 10-12th grade students in Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. Our Mission is to "Prepare and inspire students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens through rigorous academic courses, personalized electives, and active community engagement."
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
At Ascend, we want our students to ask "why" we want them to dig deeper into the material instead of simply replicating the work they have been shown during a class. True learning is about so much more than memorizing formulas and steps. We will focus on the underlying concepts behind the mechanics in each course as a way to more fully understand the content. Our small class sizes and applications-based curriculum allow us to tailor instruction to each student's individual interests and needs. In a traditional classroom, all students are required to work at the same pace; this does a disservice to those students who would like to work faster, or those who require additional help. We will work with students, on an individual basis, to customize their educational experience.
$916,839 spent$1,278,850 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $916,839.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $214k to $574k (+168%).
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: 2022 11% · 2023 3% · 2024 4% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
3% of Ascend College Prep’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
From the IRS filings of Ascend College Prep’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.
Where its funders are
100% of Ascend College Prep's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
Ascend College Prep has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Ascend College Prep
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ascend College Prep: 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 Ascend College Prep?
- Ascend College Prep (Colorado) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $80,000 to it, the largest being DANIELS FUND ($80,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Ascend College Prep have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $80,000 in grants to Ascend College Prep.
- Who is the largest funder of Ascend College Prep?
- DANIELS FUND is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ascend College Prep 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.
Play a game about who funds Ascend College Prep →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 1 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