Colorado · Nonprofit
EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES
EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES (Colorado) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,567,932 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($29,853,583). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.2M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $55M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Education Commission of the States does
Mission
The mission of Education Commission of the States is to advocate for attaining educational excellence for all and to help state leaders identify, develop and implement public policy for education that addresses current and future needs of a learning society.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The policy division provides states with experts to respond to research requests across the p-20 education spectrum. As one of the nations most complete education policy resources, the commission's staff track and enter policies into a publicly accessible database, synthesize state policies into 50-state comparisons, translate quality education research studies into reader-friendly formats, provide expert testimony, respond to state policy requests from policymakers, citizens, and the media, and surface critical and emerging education issues across states.
$5,550,703 spent$165,421 earned by the program75% of program spendingState services - primarily include the annual national forum for education policy and the winter commissioners meeting. The forum brings together the full range of education leaders from across all states to explore early learning through postsecondary education policy issues. The winter meeting allows the commissioners to hear from experts, share ideas and prepare for the year ahead.
$1,846,783 spent25% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,397,486.
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 2018 to 2019, from $13M to $16M (+26%).
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 28% · 2018 29% · 2019 25% · 2020 34% · 2021 44% · 2022 35% · 2023 51% · 2024 44% · 2025 52%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% 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
Mark Gordon
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 10 funders, grant income fell $6.2M → $3.7M.
2 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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: $1.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Silicon Valley Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES raised.
From the IRS filings of EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES’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
EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 55% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 52% · 2019 52% · 2020 59% · 2021 71% · 2022 67% · 2023 31% — 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
40% of EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 18 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $50k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters 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 EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.4M on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$9.4M
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 EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES
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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES: 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 EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES?
- EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES (Colorado) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,567,932 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($29,853,583). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $54,567,932 in grants to EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $29,853,583 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Education Commission of the States →
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 28 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