Arizona · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA
CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA (Arizona) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,802,982 to it, the largest being Helios Education Foundation ($1,476,440). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.8M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $7.8M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Center for the Future of Arizona does
Mission
Bringing arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educationin fy25, cfa continued its commitment to building a strong education system that prepares every child to succeed and thrive by expanding career-connected pathways, advancing student-centered learning, and strengthening school leadership development. Cfa continued advancing a six-year federal education innovation and research project - cfa's first-ever federal grant - marking a significant milestone in the organization's growth and national credibility. The project engaged 12 high schools and seven community colleges across arizona, with 345 students participating in design challenges that informed the expansion of dual and concurrent enrollment and it and cybersecurity pathways. The project reinforced a clear lesson: when schools, colleges, and employers collaborate to offer meaningful, real-world opportunities, students are more likely to take ownership of their education and career paths. (cont'd on sch o) cfa is carrying these insights forward by integrating the findings into its early college work and sharing the research broadly to inform practice and systems change across the state. For decades, cfa has played a leading role in advancing the future of learning in…
$3,007,054 spent$269,007 earned by the program59% of program spendingWorkforcein fy25, cfa strengthened workforce development in our state by bringing together employers, educators, and community partners to help more arizonans prepare for and succeed in careers that support long-term economic opportunity. Cfa contributed key data and analysis to arizona town hall's building arizona's workforce background report, including insights on untapped workers, workforce participation, and sector-specific trends such as retail. Released in april 2025, the report is serving as the foundation for virtual and in-person conversations across arizona, helping communities build shared understanding of how arizonans want to meet workforce needs and sustain a vibrant economy.cfa also advanced efforts to better connect skills, credentials, and employment through an innovative learning & (cont'd on sch o) employment records (ler) initiative. The current pilot brings together arizona state university's my skills pocket digital credential wallet, pipeline connect's recruitment platform, and adult learners at rio salado college earning national retail federation foundation credentials - creating one of the first comprehensive talent marketplaces in the…
$571,230 spent$71,700 earned by the program11% of program spendingThe arizona we wantin fy25, cfa continued advancing the arizona we want-- a shared vision shaped by the voices and priorities of arizonans by engaging leaders, sharing data-driven insights, and convening communities to drive action on the issues arizonans agree matter most. Cfa moved the arizona media institute from vision to action. Supported by a $1 million founding investment, cfa focused on building the partnerships, infrastructure, and design needed for long-term, statewide impact. A key milestone was securing a long-term partnership with the arizona media association and leading its first education symposium. The convening introduced journalists across the state to the arizona we want, deepened relationships with newsrooms, and helped inform the institute's core features. In parallel, cfa advanced the foundational elements of the media institute - including building a statewide independent subject matter expert database, (cont'd on sch o) progressing the design of a digital hub with integrated data solutions, and finalizing key performance indicators ahead of public launch.at a time when elections are often framed by division or outcomes alone, cfa works to elevate…
$868,027 spent17% of program spendingCivic healthin fy25, cfa's civic health work focuses on helping arizonans feel informed, connected, and empowered to share the future of their communities. At the center of this work is the arizona civic life partnership (aclp), a collaboration between cfa and the arizona center for civic leadership at the flinn foundation. Aclp brings leaders together to align around shared goals to strengthen civic culture in arizona.through aclp, cfa convened representatives from more than 20 organizations statewide to examine the state of civic health using newly updated arizona civic health progress meters data. These conversations are helping identify the metrics that matter most, set shared targets for progress, and lay the groundwork for collective action that strengthens connection, participation, and trust. Aclp has also elevated arizona's leadership nationally. In habits of the heart and mind: how to fortify civic culture, a report from the american academy of arts & sciences, cfa's work is featured as a leading example of how local, data-informed action can strengthen civic life.cfa's school participatory budgeting (spb) strengthens civic health by giving students real opportunities to…
$622,643 spent12% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,068,954.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2024 to 2025, from $5.5M to $2.4M (−55%).
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: 2019 43% · 2020 46% · 2021 55% · 2022 70% · 2023 74% · 2024 55% · 2025 49%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
Sybil Francis
President & CEO & chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $435k → $1.0M.
8 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% 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
71% 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 CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 38% · 2019 61% · 2020 34% · 2021 54% · 2022 27% · 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.
How long its funders stay
21% of CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
71% of CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA has grown faster than half of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.4M on record.
- Department of Education$5.1M
- National Science Foundation$279k
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 CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA: 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 CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA?
- CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA (Arizona) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,802,982 to it, the largest being Helios Education Foundation ($1,476,440). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $7,802,982 in grants to CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA?
- Helios Education Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,476,440 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 Center for the Future of Arizona →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 35 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