Missouri · Nonprofit
KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION
KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $156,521 to it, the largest being R C KEMPER CHARITABLE TRUST 10017800 ($55,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $894k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $157k
- Net assets
- $282k
What Kansas City Startup Foundation does
Mission
To cultivate a thriving and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kansas City.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Startland News is a digital daily business news publication primarily reporting stories of entrepreneurship and innovation (at the small and global scale) in the Greater Kansas City region. Founded in 2015, it operates within Startland - a nonprofit, community-focused holding organization that provides it with administrative support. Startland News stories humanize the experience of entrepreneurship using the principles of community journalism. Our reporting covers startup companies, small businesses, corporations, community organizations, civic efforts, higher-education, and the overall state of the local economy and highlights the way these sectors impact the daily lives of citizens. Startland News' mission is to amplify communities by uncovering their untold stories through community journalism. We serve our community as a discovery platform, shedding light on more than 500 founders, creatives, makers, and risk-takers each year and providing otherwise underrepresented or underserved sectors of our city with a voice and millions of dollars in earned media value they might not otherwise receive. In 2024, we had over 137,000 subscribers. We reported on nearly 5,000 original…
$330,074 spent$77,713 earned by the program52% of program spendingStartland Education - Through immersive, hands-on workshops and collaborative problem solving, educators gain tools to spark creativity, cultivate real-world skill, and empower the next generation of changemakers in Kansas City and beyond. The Rapid cycle lab, is a fast-paced introduction to human-centered design in the classroom offers school leaders and educators a bite-size, hands-on experience. Ideal for larger groups. The 3-day Educator Lab is an immersive professional development experience designed to equip educators with tools and mindsets rooted in human-centered design. Participants work in collaborative teams to solve real classroom or school challenges through a design-thinking process. The Entrepreneurial Teacher Accelerator equips educators to deliver real-world, entrepreneurship-based learning that prepares students for the future of work and connects them to the entrepreneurial community. In 2024, 167 educators were trained with 26 metro districts served. For the educators who attended they reported a 82% increase in confidence and 78% reported they were likely use the DT framework.
$305,986 spent$220,102 earned by the program48% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $636,060.
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 $48k to $398k (+737%).
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: 2024 2% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
77% of KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Chief executive
Julie Leonhardt
CEO Jan - June 2025
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $4k → $67.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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: $2.7M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION’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
KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 50% · 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
92% of KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $38k 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
KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
57% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
38%
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 KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION: 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 KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION?
- KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION (Missouri) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $156,521 to it, the largest being R C KEMPER CHARITABLE TRUST 10017800 ($55,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $156,521 in grants to KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION?
- R C KEMPER CHARITABLE TRUST 10017800 is the largest funder on record, with $55,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KANSAS CITY STARTUP FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Kansas City Startup →
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 7 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