Virginia · Nonprofit
COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX
COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX (Virginia) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $170,223 to it, the largest being EDUCATE FAIRFAX ($80,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $167k
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $170k
- Net assets
- $538k
What College Access Fairfax does
Mission
College Access Fairfax is a nonprofit organization created on july 27, 2004 dedicated to guiding faifax county virginia parents and students through the higher education and financial assistance application process. Caf also maintains a scholarship fund to assist parents and students with higher education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Assist students with higher education by offering scholarships. A committee comprised of individuals working in the field of college access and donors are invited to review scholarship applications via an on-line platform (smarter select). A rubric for each scholarship has been created to score various elements of the application. Reviewers are asked not to score any applicant where there may be a conflict of interest and sign a statement attesting to that requirement.
$116,646 spentof which $96,850 as grants79% of program spendingEducate and guide parents and students through the financial aid process, including completing federal forms, searching for scholarships, interpreting student aid reports and other services. Services are provided through parent workshops and by caf's financial aid champions at selected local high schools, all free of charge. Each champion saw approximately 250 students. Workshops were attended by over 2,000 parents and students. Group presentations were made to parents and one-on-one assistance was provided to students and parents. We reinstituted our in-person fafsa completion events, holding 15 this year. While there were fewer problems with the fafsa than the year before, considerable problems still existed. Financial aid champions: we continued with four financial aid champions this year. There was a great deal of frustration of the continuing platform issues caused many families to not be able to complete the form. We continued to offer virtual meetings for parents and students from any school in fairfax county. This year were able to re-assign champions to individual schools we are now in west potomac, mt. Vernon, edison, hayfield, mountain view, lewis, chantilly, south…
$28,177 spent19% of program spendingIn partnership with the va529 plan, each year 15-30 10th grade students at edison high school are selected to participate in the soar program. This program works with students who qualify for free and reduced price meals to ensure they have information to prepare them to apply for college. For successful completion of the program in both 10th and 11th grade, the students are awarded $500 each year in scholarship money and an additional $1000 for their senior year.
$2,245 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $147,068.
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 $463k to $523k (+13%).
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.
94% of COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Judith T Wilson
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $21k → $5k.
4 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 65%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
84% 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 COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 51% · 2018 100% · 2020 87% · 2021 62% · 2022 98% · 2023 55% — 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
50% of COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
82% of COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX's grant income comes from Virginia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $36k 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
COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,237 philanthropy nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
55%
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 COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX: 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 COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX?
- COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX (Virginia) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $170,223 to it, the largest being EDUCATE FAIRFAX ($80,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $170,223 in grants to COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX?
- EDUCATE FAIRFAX is the largest funder on record, with $80,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLLEGE ACCESS FAIRFAX find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 College Access Fairfax →
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 10 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