Oregon · Nonprofit
COLLEGE DREAMS INC
COLLEGE DREAMS INC (Oregon) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,022,627 to it, the largest being NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIPS INC ($5,738,953). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.6M
- Funders on record
- 37
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $2.2M
What College Dreams Inc does
Mission
College dreams promotes resiliency and college/career readiness for over 1,400 low income, first generation college-bound, and underrepresented students of color. (continued on schedule o) it serves 22 secondary schools in southern oregon through matched college savings accounts, career exploration and post-secondary planning and dropout prevention programs. Key activities: academic motivational enhancement; mentoring; skill-building and tutoring; college/career awareness; community service; competitive scholarships; barrier removal support; rigorous course/dual credit planning; access to youth camp, career development activities, pre-college programs, and campus visits; academic monitoring, excellence incentives and supporttive interventions; 3-to-1 matched college savings; and soft-skills development through paid work experiences.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
College+ focuses on 6th to 12th grade students to provide support, build skills, and motivate academic excellence. The program includes support from a department of education talent search grant.
$764,665 spentof which $51,488 as grants22% of program spendingThe +accounts program serves students whose families meet oregon low/moderate income and family asset criteria, by providing financial education classes, developing college funding plans, and the possibility of matching savings plans for college, community college or post secondary training programs.
$603,443 spentof which $447,811 as grants17% of program spendingCareer build program focuses on providing career related learning experience to high school students and out-of-school youth up to age 24 through an interagency agreement with rogue workforce partnership. Services include a regional career fair, youth work ethics classes, career academies, and paid or unpaid work experience.
$1,254,423 spentof which $437,630 as grants36% of program spendingWhatever it takes program provides an advisor and wraparound support to students at risk of disengaging or dropping out at participating schools and is funded primarily by the oregon youth development council.
$896,278 spentof which $27,797 as grants25% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,518,809.
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 $1.6M to $2.5M (+56%).
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: 2017 40% · 2018 43% · 2019 53% · 2020 54% · 2021 57% · 2022 38% · 2023 33% · 2024 66% · 2025 58%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of COLLEGE DREAMS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% 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
Carl Thomas
Executive director
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 7 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $944k → $1.1M.
5 of 37 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 DREAMS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 37 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
COLLEGE DREAMS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
76% 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 DREAMS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 85% · 2018 74% · 2019 73% · 2020 31% · 2021 53% · 2022 67% · 2023 52% — 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
41% of COLLEGE DREAMS INC'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
95% of COLLEGE DREAMS INC's grant income comes from Oregon funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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 DREAMS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding COLLEGE DREAMS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.6M on record — $1.9M federal, $3.7M state.
- Department of Education$1.9M
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$2.6M
- OTHER DISTRIBUTIONS TO SUBRECIPIENTS$628k
- DISTRIBUTION TO INDIVIDUALS$370k
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-PROFIT ORG$140k
- DISTRIBUTION TO LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS$5k
- OTHER SPECIAL PAYMENTS$4k
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 COLLEGE DREAMS 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 Oregon
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
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 COLLEGE DREAMS 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 COLLEGE DREAMS INC?
- COLLEGE DREAMS INC (Oregon) receives grants from 37 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,022,627 to it, the largest being NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIPS INC ($5,738,953). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COLLEGE DREAMS INC have?
- IRS filings report 37 organizations giving $10,022,627 in grants to COLLEGE DREAMS INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COLLEGE DREAMS INC?
- NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNERSHIPS INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,738,953 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COLLEGE DREAMS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Oregon. 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 37 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