Colorado · Nonprofit
Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc
Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc (Colorado) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $358,704 to it, the largest being DANIELS FUND ($290,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $36M
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $359k
- Net assets
- $4.3M
What Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc does
Mission
Ascent Classical Academy develops the moral and intellectual skills, habits, and virtues upon which independent, responsible, and joyful lives are built, in the firm belief that such lives are the basis for a free and flourishing republic. This is achieved by always working to train the minds and improve the hearts of young people through a classical, content-rich education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue in an orderly and disciplined environment..
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Ascent Classical Academy develops the moral and intellectual skills, habits, and virtues upon which independent, responsible, and joyful lives are built, in the firm belief that such lives are the basis for a free and flourishing republic. This is achieved by always working to train the minds and improve the hearts of young people through a classical, content-rich education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue in an orderly and disciplined environment.
$30,576,097 spent$26,949,864 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $30,576,097.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2023 to 2024, from $7.7M to $85M (+1000%).
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: 2018 100% · 2019 12% · 2020 11% · 2021 17% · 2022 16% · 2023 20% · 2024 12% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
20% of Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc’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. 3 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.
Board chair
Stephen Gilmartin
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2022: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $5k → $1k.
6 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 7 of 8 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
Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 95% · 2022 81% — 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.
Where its funders are
100% of Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc's grant income comes from Colorado funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $68k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools 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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Ascent Colorado Building Corporation · disregarded
- Classical Education Growth Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools 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 Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc?
- Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc (Colorado) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $358,704 to it, the largest being DANIELS FUND ($290,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $358,704 in grants to Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc?
- DANIELS FUND is the largest funder on record, with $290,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools Inc 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 Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 8 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