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Tennessee · Nonprofit

Develop Africa

Develop Africa (Tennessee) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $752,503 to it, the largest being GLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC ($636,323). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$398k
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$753k
Net assets
$8k
8/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 46%
01What it does

What Develop Africa does

Mission

Strategically empowers lives in Africa by providing educational opportunities & strengthening self-reliance so that individuals, families, & communities can create positive change in their own lives. We provide school supplies, solar lights (so kids can study at night), mosquito nets (to keep children safe from malaria), computer/vocational training, etc.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Partnerships in Education Programs: provide educational support to schools and groups; funds provide scholarships covering school-related expenses, enabled care for basic needs such as schooling, uniforms, etc.; provide mentoring support to youth; create real and lasting change for families and communities.

    $133,759 spent
    39% of program spending
  2. Vocational and Small Business Development Programs: provide small business, skills training and interest-free microfinance loans to small businesses as well as computer and vocational training--equipping and empowering lives so they can become equipped and self-sufficient.

    $34,494 spent
    10% of program spending
  3. Health and Disaster Relief: provide short-term relief and psycho-social support to disaster-affected beneficiaries; provide treated mosquito nets to children and adults to prevent malaria; provide breast cancer support.

    $4,500 spent
    1% of program spending
  4. Empowers lives in West Africa by providing scholarship program creating real, lasting change for children and their communities in West Africa which enable children to get better nutrition, care for basic needs, schooling, uniforms, etc.

    $169,645 spent$398,120 earned by the program
    50% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $342,398.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($198k) Expenses 100 ($194k) Net assets 100 ($11k)2018 Revenue 116 ($231k) Expenses 116 ($224k) Net assets 164 ($17k)2019 Revenue 99 ($196k) Expenses 95 ($185k) Net assets 188 ($20k)2020 Revenue 113 ($223k) Expenses 117 ($226k) Net assets 168 ($18k)2021 Revenue 179 ($354k) Expenses 186 ($360k) Net assets 59 ($6k)2022 Revenue 214 ($425k) Expenses 217 ($420k) Net assets 105 ($11k)2023 Revenue 159 ($316k) Expenses 174 ($336k) Net assets -87 ($-9242)2024 Revenue 204 ($405k) Expenses 199 ($385k) Net assets 98 ($10k)2025 Revenue 201 ($398k) Expenses 207 ($400k) Net assets 76 ($8k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (201)Expenses (207)Net assets (76)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $8k to $43k (+470%).

$13k
$20k
$32k
$18k
$8k
$43k
$32k
$37k
$30k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of Develop Africa’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,945 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$5k
’17
$7k
’18
$11k
’19
−$2k
’20
−$6k
’21
$5k
’22
−$20k
’23
$20k
’24
−$2k
’25
0.6
months of
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

Sylvester Renner

President/Executive Director

Board chair

Susan Lang

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2018202020212022202320242025
Listed6889999
Joined··+0+5+0+0+0
No longer listed··04000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $72k → $109k.

5 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 Develop Africa’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

Develop Africa leans on a few funders — its largest provides 85% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

95% 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 Develop Africa.

85%
largest funder
93%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 85% · 2019 82% · 2020 96% · 2021 86% · 2022 85% · 2023 80% — broadly stable.

“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

33% of Develop Africa's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

Develop Africa draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 6 states in all.

WA
MN
NY
CA
NC
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Tennessee out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $78k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Develop Africa has grown faster than half of the 2,468 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−1% · below the median
Months of reserve0.6mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,468 international nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Develop Africa

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 Tennessee

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 5%Fundraising 10%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

TN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Develop Africa: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Develop Africa?
Develop Africa (Tennessee) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $752,503 to it, the largest being GLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC ($636,323). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Develop Africa have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $752,503 in grants to Develop Africa, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Develop Africa?
GLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $636,323 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Develop Africa find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 Develop Africa →

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 12 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