Ohio · Nonprofit
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (Ohio) receives grants from 94 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,671,993 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION ($8,692,500). 58 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $24M
- Funders on record
- 94
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $169M
What Cleveland State University Foundation does
Mission
The foundation exists primarily to raise, receive, and manage private gifts for the advancement and benefit of cleveland state university and its students and faculty. Our mission is to improve access to higher education and the quality of that education by providing financial aid and grants.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
In fiscal year 2025 the foundation received $14.9 million in new gifts and pledges, including $7 million for scholarships. Gifts received by the foundation fall into two basic categories; restricted and unrestricted. Unrestricted gifts may be used for university priorities, programs and services not supported by state funds, endowment income, or other sources. Most gifts received are restricted for specific purposes as directed by the donors, the foundation, and the university. For example, restricted gifts can be directed to a specified academic department, scholarship, etc. Whether restricted or unrestricted, annual gifts are usually spent within the year they are received. Endowment funds are pooled with other gifts and invested. Under the direction of the foundation's investment committee, endowments are invested by professional fund managers for maximum yield with minimum risk. Endowment funds support general university operations, all nine academic colleges, the school of nursing, athletics, and the library.at csu, 30% of students are from underrepresented minority populations and more than 40% of undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college. More than…
$15,023,386 spentof which $14,170,568 as grants$73,259 earned by the program100% of program spendingThe cleveland schools book fund is an endowment within the college of education and managed by the Cleveland State University Foundation as part of the overall investment portfolio. Oversight is provided by a board comprised of both csu and non-csu members.the cleveland schools book fund helps students develop reading skills for academic life success and over the past 10 years has grown to more than $6 million. The fund has helped children in the cleveland metropolitan schools become better readers and citizens by providing each pre-k to fourth grade classroom with a library of high-quality storybooks that are specifically chosen to present models of good behavior and citizenship. The book fund has delivered over 200,000 books to classrooms throughout the city, including campus international school, and nearly 20,000 students read those books every year. In addition, more than 1,000 classrooms have received specifically designed book cases.
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,023,386.
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 $136M to $165M (+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.
65% of CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Julie Rehm
Executive director
Board chair
Karen White
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 23 funders to 40 funders, grant income rose $1.5M → $3.3M.
19 of 94 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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: $13M from 19 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Cleveland Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 94 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
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% 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
43% 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 CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 66% · 2018 22% · 2019 28% · 2020 23% · 2021 68% · 2022 41% · 2023 23% — 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
52% of CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
86% of CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.9M 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
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY 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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Cleveland State University · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY 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 CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION?
- CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (Ohio) receives grants from 94 organizations whose IRS filings report $24,671,993 to it, the largest being THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION ($8,692,500). 58 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 94 organizations giving $24,671,993 in grants to CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION, 58 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION?
- THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,692,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 94 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