Maryland · Nonprofit
CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC
CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC (Maryland) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,396,740 to it, the largest being THE KAHLERT FOUNDATION INC ($717,500). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 64
- Grants received
- $3.4M
- Net assets
- $13M
What Carson Scholars Fund Inc does
Mission
The mission of carson scholars fund is to recognize and reward students in grades four through eleven who have earned the highest level of academic achievement and community service by providing them with college scholarships. Emphasis is (continued on schedule o) placed on students' performance and desire to maintain a strong academic record, as well as humanistic qualities that have a positive impact on society. Carson scholars fund also provides funding to schools to build and maintain "ben carson reading rooms" - warm, inviting rooms where children can discover the joy of independent, leisure reading.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Scholarships: the carson scholars fund has awarded more than 11,600 scholarships (representing 10,909 students) in all fifty states and washington, dc. Over 895 colleges and universities have (or had) carson scholars. The carson scholars fund has an alumni network of over 9,550 (scholars old enough to have graduated from high school). Over 7,300 scholars have used at least part of their scholarship. More than $10,000,000 has been paid out on behalf of our scholars. In 2024, a total of 1,506 (570 new scholars and 936 previous scholars) were honored at regional awards ceremonies. As of 2024, there are more than 5,300 scholars who have been recognized by the carson scholars fund multiple times.
$1,435,022 spentof which $616,000 as grants$137,856 earned by the program69% of program spendingReading rooms: the ben carson reading project has established 286 ben carson reading room and serves students in 23 states and washington, dc. Since its inception in 2000, the project has dispersed approximately 4 million dollars to schools to create reading oases. Over 143,500 high-interest books have been made available in reading room schools, inspiring students to reach their full literacy potential.
$649,245 spent31% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,084,267.
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 2017 to 2018, from $14M to $18M (+26%).
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.
55% of CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Board chair
Lee Warner
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $304k → $363k.
12 of 64 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 64 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
CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
40% 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 CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 30% · 2019 29% · 2020 27% · 2021 18% · 2022 18% · 2023 21% — 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
47% of CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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 CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC
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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
48%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC: 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 CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC?
- CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC (Maryland) receives grants from 64 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,396,740 to it, the largest being THE KAHLERT FOUNDATION INC ($717,500). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC have?
- IRS filings report 64 organizations giving $3,396,740 in grants to CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC?
- THE KAHLERT FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $717,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CARSON SCHOLARS FUND INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Carson Scholars →
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 64 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