Texas · Nonprofit
AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION
AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (Texas) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $264,323 to it, the largest being SHIVERS CANCER FOUNDATION ($200,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $924k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $264k
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Austin Area Research Organization does
Mission
Aaro, a non-partisan thought leader for central texas, has worked behind the scenes on critical regional issues since 1980. The membership is an intentionally diverse group of central texas leaders drawn from business, industry, education, health care, real estate, nonprofits and foundations. In 2025, aaro hosted over 50 programs allowing members to (cont on sch o)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Program 1 - committee / membership provided information on critical issues in 6 priority areas: education, health, social equity, transportation, vision (regionalism) and water by hosting programs featuring content experts and providing written materials to members. This included four membership meetings and more than 50 issue-related meetings in which members were fortified with facts to allow them to understand complex issues and educate others in their communities about critical policy issues facing the region.
$255,179 spent$21,500 earned by the program50% of program spendingProgram 2 - catalyst summit hosted the third annual central texas catalyst summit. A premier, by-invitation-only event that brought together 150 leaders from the six-county region who are engaged in addressing policy challenges impacting business, government and non-profit institutions and communities throughout the region. A full day event facilitating discussions topics that thread through the most pressing of these challenges, from housing affordability and water security to evolving the k- 12 to workforce readiness pipeline in an ever evolving environment. Attendees participated in interactive workshops, heard from thought provoking speakers and networked to explore the interdependencies of subject matter and communities and how to move the needle forward for our region.
$153,108 spent$169,690 earned by the program30% of program spendingProgram 3 - membership engagement initiative completed a review of both the membership structure and member engagement model. Leveraging a 2024 member survey, 2025 steering committee and member interviews, bcg conducted an 8-week sprint to evaluate aaros financial stability, benchmark against other organizations nationally and articulate member roi, including an analysis of 2024 sustainability indicators data to priorities of residents throughout central texas as a comparative to aaros 2024 survey of civic, business and public leaders across the super-region. Resulting recommendations included reducing the complexity of membership tiers to three, significantly reducing the number of regular meetings to increase participation while reducing the time burden of membership, and targeting new members across regionally key, but under-represented in membership, industries.
$102,071 spent20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $510,358.
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.
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 $817k to $1.2M (+45%).
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 2% · 2020 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Sandra Guzman
President & CEO
Board chair
Amy Jones
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $8k → $17k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $189k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Austin Community Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION raised.
From the IRS filings of AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION’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
AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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: 2017 100% · 2021 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
78% of AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
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.
Organizations like AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
58% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION: 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 AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION?
- AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (Texas) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $264,323 to it, the largest being SHIVERS CANCER FOUNDATION ($200,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $264,323 in grants to AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION?
- SHIVERS CANCER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AUSTIN AREA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 3 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