Virginia · Nonprofit
FIRSTSPARK INC
FIRSTSPARK INC (Virginia) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,031,579 to it, the largest being VIRGINIA EARLY CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION ($16,062,454). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.2M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $691k
What Firstspark Inc does
Mission
Promote quality early childhood care and education for young children ages birth to 5 and provide prenatal resources for expectant women.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Child care quality: to prepare all children for kindergarten and in response to state law, virginia created the unified virginia quality birth to five system (vqb5) to measure and improve the quality of all publicly-funded birth-to-five classrooms and support families in selecting quality programming across program types. This organization oversees and implements the program requirements for vqb5 in the region. Educators and leaders have access to support, training, and resources to help improve teacher-child interactions. Our organization also administers the mixed delivery program in publicly funded licensed (non-faith-based) and private early childhood care and education (ecce) settings for eligible children. Mixed delivery funds full-day, year-round services for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, meeting growing demand for publicly funded ecce at private sites that meet the varied needs and preferences of families. The organization also provides training for child care educators from all settings to build a strong base of knowledge in all areas of early childhood development so children are ready to enter kindergarten with the tools they need to succeed. Training is aligned…
$4,832,126 spentof which $3,192,517 as grants96% of program spendingPrenatal resources: when babies are born healthy, they have a strong start for optimal child growth and development. Working with ob-gyns, hospital systems, clinics, and other human services providers, a prenatal resource specialist talks one-on-one with pregnant women about their needs and concerns. A virginia department of health verified, comprehensive screening is conducted and women are connected to home visitation and many other prenatal and parent education services to support a healthy pregnancy.
$218,776 spent4% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,050,902.
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 $362k to $758k (+109%).
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 67% · 2018 65% · 2019 60% · 2020 63% · 2021 84% · 2022 82% · 2023 82% · 2024 84% · 2025 92%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FIRSTSPARK 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $233k → $3.4M.
4 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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 FIRSTSPARK INC’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
FIRSTSPARK INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
98% 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 FIRSTSPARK INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 72% · 2019 65% · 2020 62% · 2021 87% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — 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
38% of FIRSTSPARK INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
99% of FIRSTSPARK INC's grant income comes from Virginia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $467k 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
FIRSTSPARK INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like FIRSTSPARK 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 FIRSTSPARK 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 FIRSTSPARK INC?
- FIRSTSPARK INC (Virginia) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,031,579 to it, the largest being VIRGINIA EARLY CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION ($16,062,454). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRSTSPARK INC have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $17,031,579 in grants to FIRSTSPARK INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRSTSPARK INC?
- VIRGINIA EARLY CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $16,062,454 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRSTSPARK INC 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.
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 16 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