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Illinois · Nonprofit

AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,421,317 to it, the largest being NKC FAMILY FOUNDATION ($919,020). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$8.3M
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$1.4M
Net assets
$18M
7/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 3%
01What it does

What Aurora Christian Schools does

Mission

Aurora Christian Schools exists to operate a Christian School to work with families in bringing their children to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, educating them from a Christian worldview and preparing them for a life of service to Christ and their world.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Provided an accredited education for approximately 1,025 students from preschool through the 12th grade.

    $6,502,868 spent$7,621,710 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,502,868.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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.

100 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($5.9M) Expenses 100 ($6.5M) Net assets 100 ($9.1M)2022 Revenue 127 ($7.5M) Expenses 110 ($7.1M) Net assets 111 ($10M)2023 Revenue 155 ($9.2M) Expenses 109 ($7.1M) Net assets 141 ($13M)2024 Revenue 164 ($9.7M) Expenses 115 ($7.4M) Net assets 196 ($18M)2025 Revenue 140 ($8.3M) Expenses 125 ($8.1M) Net assets 199 ($18M)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (140)Expenses (125)Net assets (199)Peer revenue range

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 $23M to $21M (−9%).

$22M
$22M
$23M
$21M
$21M
20212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 13% · 2022 10% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

4% of AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,352 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

−$539k
’21
$404k
’22
$2.2M
’23
$2.3M
’24
$258k
’25
5.0
months of
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

Joe DeCort

Chairman

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20212022202320242025
Listed56666
Joined·+2+0+0+0
No longer listed·1000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $132k → $205k.

7 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS’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

AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

35% 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 AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS.

65%
largest funder
96%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 62% · 2019 58% · 2020 80% · 2021 62% · 2022 73% · 2023 73% — 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

33% of AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

99% of AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
DC
GA

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $493k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS is better cushioned than half of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin3% · below the median
Months of reserve5.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

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 Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

81% of spending goes to programs.

Program 81%Management 19%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • ACS Ministries LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS: 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.

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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 AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS?
AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS (Illinois) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,421,317 to it, the largest being NKC FAMILY FOUNDATION ($919,020). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $1,421,317 in grants to AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS?
NKC FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $919,020 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like AURORA CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Aurora Christian Schools →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 12 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