California · Nonprofit
GRADIENT LEARNING
GRADIENT LEARNING (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $110,512,000 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($100,512,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $111M
- Net assets
- $6.8M
What Gradient Learning does
Mission
Gradient Learning oversees the Gradient Learning and along programs. The Gradient Learning program is a research-based approach to education designed to drive student engagement, strong student-teacher connections, and academic learning. The program equips teachers with comprehensive tools, technology, and resources to ensure every student is motivated and supported to reach their potential, both within the classroom and beyond. The along program is an interactive video journal that helps teachers guide their students to reflect and grow - no matter the learning setting - by combining research-informed resources with efficient communication. Across the nation, Gradient Learning serves more than 80,000 students and partners with nearly 400 schools, whose diverse communities are represented through district, charter and independent schools.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Program success - the program success team provides 1:1 coaching and support to all school partners and a set of district leaders. The team supports schools with ongoing progress monitoring and program improvement by engaging in regular data-analysis and gap action planning. Additionally, the team assesses the site-level conditions and instructional quality that demonstrate excellence within the program.
$4,942,615 spent28% of program spendingProgram delivery - the program delivery team delivers a system of supports that includes a learning management system, curricula, resources, and applications that provides students and teachers with the tools they need to engage in rigorous classroom learning.
$4,389,603 spent25% of program spendingTraining & convening - Gradient Learning hosts summer training sessions to prepare school leaders and teachers to implement the summit learning program. In addition, gradient hosts fall & spring convenings for school leaders and teachers providing ongoing support to our partner schools. Approximately 8,000 school leaders and teachers attend trainings and convenings.
$3,874,480 spent22% of program spendingPartnerships & impact - the partnerships & impact team works to expand Gradient Learning's reach by developing new school and district partnerships, collaborating with organizations in the education field, and fostering deeper engagement with partners through meaningful collaboration. These efforts support the organization's mission to improve student outcomes by creating practical, high-quality solutions that educators and leaders can use across the education system.
$1,775,756 spent10% of program spendingMarketing & communications - the marketing & communications team provides on-the-ground communications support to school leaders across the country and develops template communications materials and coordinated media outreach.
$1,419,081 spent8% of program spendingAlong - along is an interactive video journal that helps teachers guide their students to reflect and grow - no matter the learning setting - by combining research-informed resources with efficient communication.
$1,158,638 spent7% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $17,560,173.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2022 to 2023, from $40M to $11M (−72%).
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.
99% of GRADIENT LEARNING’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Monica Milligan
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $12k → $250k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 GRADIENT LEARNING’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
GRADIENT LEARNING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 91% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
91% 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 GRADIENT LEARNING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 97% · 2022 99% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
91% of GRADIENT LEARNING's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $10M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $101M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
GRADIENT LEARNING's revenue fell 61% between 2021 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like GRADIENT LEARNING
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 9 related entities
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Advocacy · exempt
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation · exempt
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Inc · exempt
- Fwdus Education Fund Inc · exempt
- Fwdus Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GRADIENT LEARNING: 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 GRADIENT LEARNING?
- GRADIENT LEARNING (California) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $110,512,000 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($100,512,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GRADIENT LEARNING have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $110,512,000 in grants to GRADIENT LEARNING, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GRADIENT LEARNING?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $100,512,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GRADIENT LEARNING find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Gradient Learning →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 3 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