Virginia · Nonprofit
ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC
ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC (Virginia) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $444,079 to it, the largest being PLEDGELING FOUNDATION ($173,749). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $339k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $444k
- Net assets
- $190k
What Ascend - Leadership Through Athletics Inc does
Mission
Ascend is galvanizing a generation of young women to become leaders in their communities, addressing the crisis of gender inequality. Through transformative experiences in mountaineering, health education, and community engagement, ascend helps girls and young women build self-confidence and courage.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Ascend afghanistan - ascend leadership through athletics is an international non-profit that invests in young women through mental health training and community service in afghanistan. Since 2015, thousands of afghan girls and women have participated in the program that prepares girls to be physically and mentally healthy, and encourages them to be active community leaders and role models. Ascend's programming was halted temporarily in august 2021 and restarted in january 2023. The program in afghanistan will continue to provide tools and knowledge to girls to manage their mental health and encourages them to be active role models through community service. Annually, the program directly enrolls over 300 girls annually and impacts more than 1500 community members through outreach and service projects.
$233,707 spent69% of program spendingAscend pakistan - ascend - leadership through athletics is an international non-profit organization that invests in young women in pakistan through mountaineering-based leadership training. Ascend pakistan began program operations in 2023 and served over 1,500 community members through direct outreach and community events. Additonally, 100 girls are directly impacted annually through participation in the after school program. Ascend's pakistan program prepares girls to be physically and mentally strong and encourages them to be active community leaders and role models. We highlight the capabilities of women through ambitious mountaineering expeditions, leadership development, community service, and fitness and mental health skills and awareness.
$58,417 spent17% of program spendingHq program - ascend headquarters prodives program, administrative and financial support to in-country program in afghanistan and pakistan.
$47,991 spent14% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $340,115.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2020 to 2021, from $48k to $822k (+1618%).
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.
100% of ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $5k → $57k.
8 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 92% 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 ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC’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
ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
95% 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 ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 87% · 2022 56% · 2023 35% — 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
50% of ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 36% 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
92% of ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC'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 $33k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $411k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC has grown faster than half of the 13,062 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,062 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 4 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Ascend Leadership Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS 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.
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 - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC?
- ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC (Virginia) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $444,079 to it, the largest being PLEDGELING FOUNDATION ($173,749). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 92% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $444,079 in grants to ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC?
- PLEDGELING FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $173,749 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ASCEND - LEADERSHIP THROUGH ATHLETICS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 - Leadership Through Athletics →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 14 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