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Maryland · Nonprofit

INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC

INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC (Maryland) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $833,985 to it, the largest being COUNCIL OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES ($373,449). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$146k
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$834k
Net assets
$395k
10/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 78%
01What it does

What Independent College Fund of Maryland Inc does

Mission

The mission of the I-fund is to provide college access, choice and opportunities by raising funds, principally from businesses and foundations, to provide scholarships and grants to students attending I-fund member institutions. The I-fund strives to expand educational opportunities to diversify leadership in the civic, corporate, and political communities; to strengthen the democratic process by preparing people to reason and discern truth; and to enrich the learning environment by providing support for new programs, technologies and other resources. The I-fund's programs include unrestricted support, a pooled scholarship fund, named scholarships, and designated scholarships.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The pooled scholarship program helps ensure the benefits of an independent higher education are available to many qualified students for whom the cost of college would otherwise be out of reach. Scholarships from this fund are awarded to students of all majors based on financial need. Grants fund basic and emergency financial needs.

    $55,510 spent
    44% of program spending
  2. The designated scholarship program allows donors to choose the specific I-fund member college that will benefit from their gift to the I-fund. The named scholarship fund provides businesses and foundation partners the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to higher education by creating named scholarships, which are awarded to one student at each member college based on financial need.

    $43,873 spent
    35% of program spending
  3. The I-fund is also a member of the foundation for independent higher education which collaborates with hundreds of private colleges across the nation and is a primary voice of independent higher education.

    $27,000 spent
    21% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $126,383.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($323k) Expenses 100 ($322k) Net assets 100 ($325k)2018 Revenue 130 ($421k) Expenses 120 ($386k) Net assets 126 ($408k)2019 Revenue 126 ($405k) Expenses 142 ($456k) Net assets 110 ($358k)2020 Revenue 93 ($300k) Expenses 80 ($258k) Net assets 123 ($399k)2021 Revenue 100 ($321k) Expenses 97 ($313k) Net assets 144 ($469k)2022 Revenue 41 ($132k) Expenses 56 ($180k) Net assets 110 ($359k)2023 Revenue 59 ($189k) Expenses 52 ($168k) Net assets 121 ($393k)2024 Revenue 43 ($138k) Expenses 53 ($170k) Net assets 118 ($383k)2025 Revenue 45 ($146k) Expenses 49 ($159k) Net assets 122 ($395k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (45)Expenses (49)Net assets (122)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $499k to $359k (−28%).

$345k
$424k
$378k
$424k
$499k
$359k
$409k
$383k
$395k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$409
’17
$35k
’18
−$51k
’19
$42k
’20
$8k
’21
−$48k
’22
$21k
’23
−$32k
’24
−$14k
’25
4.3
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed544554444
Joined·+2+0+3+2+1+1+1+1
No longer listed·30222111
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $45k → $98k.

2 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND 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

INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

62% 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 INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC.

45%
largest funder
79%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 42% · 2019 46% · 2020 38% · 2021 37% · 2022 37% · 2023 39% — 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

82% of INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 91% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC draws 67% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 3 states in all.

MD
DC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maryland out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $144k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 9 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−10% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve4.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−9% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND 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 Maryland

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

79% of spending goes to programs.

Program 79%Management 21%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MD

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND 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.

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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 INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC?
INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC (Maryland) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $833,985 to it, the largest being COUNCIL OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES ($373,449). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $833,985 in grants to INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC?
COUNCIL OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES is the largest funder on record, with $373,449 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like INDEPENDENT COLLEGE FUND OF MARYLAND INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 Independent College Fund of Maryland →

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 11 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