Colorado · Nonprofit
AYA FOUNDATION
AYA FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,241,674 to it, the largest being The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc ($250,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $523k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $931k
What Aya Foundation does
Mission
To lead an economic revolution by supporting members of the black community build their wealth through access to education, training, networks, and funding.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Aya programs: Aya Foundation supports entrepreneurs through a series of programs aimed at increasing their business success and strengthening their entrepreneurial journey. Our programs support small business owners with technical assistance, social capital and foundational training. In 2024 we supported 207 entrepreneurs. We served 48 aspiring and current business owners in jumpstart my business, 27 with one-to-one peer business coaching, 20 with bookkeeping support and coaching, 9 with credit repair support, and 105 for who we made connections. In total, we provided 835 touchpoints for colorado small business owners.
$178,855 spent40% of program spendingAya grants: in the spirit of family and friends gifts that often support start up business owners from more affluent communities, aya provided $306,570 in start up business grants to 8 colorado entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries, to support the launch or growth of their businesses.
$137,024 spentof which $126,570 as grants31% of program spendingFiscal sponsorships. Our fiscal sponsorship program is aimed at supporting for-profit start up and small business that are doing work that benefits our community. Fiscal sponsorship partners elevate the history and impact of the black community, or tend to a gap and need that is going unmet. In 2024 we supported three small for-profits in their philanthropic work to support the black community: my skin global, therapists of color collaborative and the 1917 ranch at dearfield.
$109,666 spent$10,055 earned by the program25% of program spendingOther fiscal sponsorships
$19,761 spent$1,000 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $445,306.
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.
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 $1.3M to $992k (−21%).
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: 2023 13% · 2024 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of AYA FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Benilda Samuels
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Jicelyn Johnson
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 8 funders, grant income fell $335k → $211k.
6 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 AYA FOUNDATION’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
AYA FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
48% 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 AYA FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 63% · 2022 66% · 2023 24% — 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
AYA FOUNDATION draws 51% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $422k 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
AYA FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 11,971 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,971 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding AYA FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $145k on record.
- Small Business Administration$145k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AYA FOUNDATION
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
57% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AYA FOUNDATION: 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 AYA FOUNDATION?
- AYA FOUNDATION (Colorado) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,241,674 to it, the largest being The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc ($250,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AYA FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $1,241,674 in grants to AYA FOUNDATION, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AYA FOUNDATION?
- The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AYA FOUNDATION 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 13 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