Missouri · Nonprofit
BRIGHT FUTURES FUND
BRIGHT FUTURES FUND (Missouri) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,910,954 to it, the largest being CATHOLIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,334,546). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $6.9M
- Net assets
- $4.6M
What Bright Futures Fund does
Mission
To offer positive education opportunities to youth in a safe, value-centered environment, and for such other purposes as permitted by law.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
As a certified educational assistance organization for the missouri scholars k-12 scholarship program, provided funding for children that met state requirements to attend one of thirty schools in the diocese of kansas city-st. Joseph.
$6,867,385 spentof which $6,867,385 as grants$7,932,728 earned by the program66% of program spendingGrants are provided to three inner city schools within the catholic diocese of kansas city-st. Joseph. This enables the schools to provide scholarships/financial assistance to families to enable children to receive a catholic education. The funds also support the operating costs of the two schools. A small portion of the funds provides scholarships for families to attend select catholic schools where families need some assistance to remain in the schools. All schools are tax exempt and follow educational guidelines required by state and federal standards as well as the teachings of the catholic church.
$1,826,325 spentof which $1,159,290 as grants18% of program spendingFiscal years 2024 and 2025 included construction costs for a new building at one of the three inner city schools that are supported by Bright Futures Fund.
$1,708,519 spent16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,402,229.
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. 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 $2.2M to $7.0M (+213%).
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 57%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
17% of BRIGHT FUTURES FUND’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. 4 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
M Gail Summers
Executive director
Board chair
Jp Latenser
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 16 funders, grant income rose $788k → $1.1M.
7 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 BRIGHT FUTURES FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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
BRIGHT FUTURES FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
53% 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 BRIGHT FUTURES FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 64% · 2019 31% · 2020 46% · 2021 67% · 2022 53% · 2023 74% — 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
25% of BRIGHT FUTURES FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
51% of BRIGHT FUTURES FUND'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 $3.4M that is directly attributable, 52% of it comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
BRIGHT FUTURES FUND 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 BRIGHT FUTURES FUND
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph of the Roman Catholic Church · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BRIGHT FUTURES FUND: 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 BRIGHT FUTURES FUND?
- BRIGHT FUTURES FUND (Missouri) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,910,954 to it, the largest being CATHOLIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($2,334,546). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BRIGHT FUTURES FUND have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $6,910,954 in grants to BRIGHT FUTURES FUND, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BRIGHT FUTURES FUND?
- CATHOLIC COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,334,546 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BRIGHT FUTURES FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 43 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