Ohio · Nonprofit
BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED
BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED (Ohio) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,758,941 to it, the largest being DEACONESS FOUNDATION ($376,500). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What Business Volunteers Unlimited does
Mission
Bringing businesses and nonprofits together to provide board participation opportunities, volunteer referrals, and training to strengthen the overall performance of nonprofits primarily in northeast ohio.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Bvu staff conducts assessment meetings with over 350 nonprofits each year to understand their specific needs for board members, training, and skilled and direct service volunteers. Through these meetings, bvu identifies new ways to strengthen the capacity of the participating nonprofits. Following the needs assessment, nonprofits have access to board members, skilled and direct service volunteers, and bvu's nonprofit consulting center through which bvu provides targeted and customized services to strengthen the capacity of over 180 nonprofits each year. Bvu has a resource center to help nonprofits with governance and operational processes.
$1,059,002 spent$913,288 earned by the program58% of program spendingBvu interviews, trains, and thoughtfully matches business professionals as board members to nonprofit organizations, as well as interviews and engages business professionals, retirees and community people as skilled volunteers to assist nonprofits with specific short-term projects. Bvu matches nearly 150 board members each year, trains over 400 board members each year, and engages skilled volunteers at 150 nonprofits each year.
$189,976 spent$287,350 earned by the program10% of program spendingThrough the volunteer center, bvu refers over 15,000 volunteers each year to volunteer opportunities with over 300 nonprofits. In addition, bvu staff works with nonprofits to develop one day volunteer projects to engage teams of volunteers in short-term volunteerism. Bvu staff coordinate and engage over 160 teams in volunteer projects per year.
$157,757 spent$44,980 earned by the program9% of program spendingNonprofit support: bvu is involved in numerous efforts and activities to promote and facilitate the strengthened capacity of nonprofits in northeast ohio to achieve their missions.
$411,356 spentof which $64,000 as grants23% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,818,091.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.7M to $2.1M (+25%).
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: 2020 13% · 2021 12% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
38% of BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (71% 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.
Chief executive
Elizabeth Voudouris
President & CEO
Board chair
Deborah Z Read
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $199k → $203k.
10 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $4.0M from 9 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Cleveland Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED raised.
From the IRS filings of BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
29% 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 BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 45% · 2019 45% · 2020 32% · 2021 46% · 2022 15% · 2023 22% — 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.
How long its funders stay
63% of BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 74% 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
97% of BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $441k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED is better cushioned than half of the 612 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 612 unclassified nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED: 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 BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED?
- BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED (Ohio) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,758,941 to it, the largest being DEACONESS FOUNDATION ($376,500). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $1,758,941 in grants to BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED?
- DEACONESS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $376,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS UNLIMITED find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 31 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing