Arizona · Nonprofit
Helens Hope Chest
Helens Hope Chest (Arizona) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $600,147 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($215,782). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.4M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $600k
- Net assets
- $771k
What Helens Hope Chest does
Mission
Helens Hope Chest lightens the burden of foster and kinship families through tangible resources and compassionate support.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Helens Hope Chest reduces the financial burden on foster and kinship families while creating a safe, welcoming, and dignified space for the children in their care. Through its shop-by-appointment boutique located in Mesa, foster and kinship children pick out clothing, books, school supplies, birthday gifts, and more at no cost. The holiday season culminates with JaKelles Christmas Box, when foster and kinship families choose from an assortment of high-quality gifts. The event brings even more holiday joy because it comes at no cost to the foster/kinship families. Newly formed agency partnerships have been valuable in creating a stronger program, while sharing resources and strengthening the network of services available for foster and kinship families in Arizona. Operating with a small staff and large army of seasonal and year-round volunteers, Helens Hope Chest accomplishes much. Sorting donations, laundering, organizing, displaying attire, and assisting shopping families with thoughtful attention creates a culture of care for those in need. With careful attention to costs and use of resources, funds are used to maintain a safe and welcoming environment and to ensure that…
$1,102,820 spentof which $818,263 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,102,820.
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 2022 to 2023, from $911k to $602k (−34%).
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: 2021 11% · 2022 3% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Helens Hope Chest’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Mark Young
CEO & President
Board chair
Paul Anderson
Board Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $7k → $11k.
5 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 55% 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: $946k from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Mesa United Way Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Helens Hope Chest raised.
From the IRS filings of Helens Hope Chest’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 17 of 18 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
Helens Hope Chest leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 Helens Hope Chest.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 67% · 2020 71% · 2021 37% · 2022 49% · 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.
How long its funders stay
25% of Helens Hope Chest'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
55% of Helens Hope Chest'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 $268k that is directly attributable, 72% of it comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $332k 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.
Against its field
Helens Hope Chest runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,504 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,504 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Helens Hope Chest
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
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Mesa United Way · exempt
- Azura Inc · exempt
- Foster 360 · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Helens Hope Chest: 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 Helens Hope Chest?
- Helens Hope Chest (Arizona) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $600,147 to it, the largest being AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC ($215,782). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 55% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Helens Hope Chest have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $600,147 in grants to Helens Hope Chest, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Helens Hope Chest?
- AMERICAN ONLINE GIVING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $215,782 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Helens Hope Chest 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 18 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