Arizona · Nonprofit
Grand Canyon University
Grand Canyon University (Arizona) receives grants from 298 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,424,163 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($10,091,309). 155 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.0B
- Funders on record
- 298
- Grants received
- $32M
- Net assets
- $547M
What Grand Canyon University does
Mission
GCU is a missional, Christ-centered university with an innovative and adaptive spirit that addresses the world's deep needs by cultivating compassionate Christian community, empowering free and virtuous action, and serving others in ways that promote human flourishing. Through academic excellence, the university equips students with knowledge of the Christian worldview, instilling in them a sense of purpose and vocational calling that enables them to be innovative thinkers, effective communicators, global contributors, and transformative leaders who change their communities by placing the interests of others before their own.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instructional program services - instructional program services include all activities directly tied to the educational services provided by the university. Gcu has approximately 123,000 enrolled students (on campus and online) in undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level programs. Gcu provides scholarships, grants, and other financial assistance to eligible students based on financial need and academic measures.
$1,917,015,425 spentof which $386,098,916 as grants$1,958,523,555 earned by the program99% of program spendingAuxiliary enterprises - auxiliary enterprises represent various business units that operate to enhance the educational experience of the university's students, including an arena, hotel, restaurants, golf course, and campus/online shops.
$12,211,485 spent$15,836,603 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,929,226,910.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $1.7B to $1.8B (+9%).
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: 2020 1% · 2021 1% · 2022 2% · 2023 0% · 2024 0% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
1% of Grand Canyon University’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 7 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
Fred Miller
Chairman of the Board
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 101 funders, grant income rose $72k → $4.6M.
26 of 298 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 Grand Canyon University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 298 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
Grand Canyon University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 31% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
27% 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 Grand Canyon University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 70% · 2019 36% · 2020 28% · 2021 20% · 2022 19% · 2023 34% — 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
30% of Grand Canyon University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
Grand Canyon University draws 76% of its grant income from funders outside Arizona, across 44 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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
Grand Canyon University is better cushioned than half of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding Grand Canyon University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $55.1M on record — $54.8M federal, $306k state.
- Department of Education$52.5M
- Department of Homeland Security$1.3M
- National Science Foundation$749k
- Department of Defense$278k
- OR$121k
- NJ$117k
- FL$60k
- CT$7k
- OK$948
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 Grand Canyon University
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 19 states
Part of a family of 5 related entities
- Canyon Golf LLC · disregarded
- Canyon Hospitality LLC · disregarded
- Canyon Promotions LLC · disregarded
- Grand Canyon University Foundation · exempt
- Grand Canyon University Cityserve · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Grand Canyon University: 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 Grand Canyon University?
- Grand Canyon University (Arizona) receives grants from 298 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,424,163 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($10,091,309). 155 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Grand Canyon University have?
- IRS filings report 298 organizations giving $32,424,163 in grants to Grand Canyon University, 155 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Grand Canyon University?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $10,091,309 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Grand Canyon University find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 298 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