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Ohio · Nonprofit

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (Ohio) receives grants from 178 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,229,811 to it, the largest being THE ELLIOT FOUNDATION INC ($2,750,313). 110 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$22M
Funders on record
178
Grants received
$29M
Net assets
$339M
110/178 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 27%
01What it does

What Kent State University Foundation does

Mission

The Kent State University Foundation provides leadership, private sector funding and stewardship of gifts to support kent state university, meet its needs and achieve its priorites.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The Kent State University Foundation provided grants to kent state university to further the universitys academic, research, and public service programs.

    $26,327,681 spentof which $26,327,681 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $26,327,681.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($21M) Expenses 100 ($19M) Net assets 100 ($275M)2022 Revenue 233 ($50M) Expenses 95 ($18M) Net assets 100 ($275M)2023 Revenue 113 ($24M) Expenses 151 ($28M) Net assets 106 ($292M)2024 Revenue 99 ($21M) Expenses 162 ($30M) Net assets 113 ($309M)2025 Revenue 104 ($22M) Expenses 114 ($21M) Net assets 124 ($339M)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (104)Expenses (114)Net assets (124)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 2024 to 2025, from $334M to $365M (+9%).

$301M
$299M
$316M
$334M
$365M
20212022202320242025
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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

83% of KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,254 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$2.8M
’21
$32M
’22
−$3.8M
’23
−$8.9M
’24
$1.1M
’25
9.8
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.

Chief executive

Valoree Vargo

Chief executive officer

Board chair

Michelle Thomas

Board chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20212022202320242025
Listed3938383838
Joined·+2+1+4+5
No longer listed·3145
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 76 funders, grant income rose $2.0M → $3.5M.

39 of 178 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 178 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

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 9% of grant income, and it takes 10 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 10 funders to its left

47% 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 KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION.

9%
largest funder
23%
top three
~28
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 16% · 2019 27% · 2020 14% · 2021 26% · 2022 26% · 2023 7% — 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

35% of KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

66% of KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Ohio funders.

WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
WV
VA
MD
DE
KS
TN
NC
GA
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin5% · above the median
Months of reserve9.8mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like KENT STATE UNIVERSITY 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 Ohio

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 16%Fundraising 2%

Governance

33
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

82%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

OH
SC

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Downtown Kent Hotel LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KENT STATE UNIVERSITY 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION?
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION (Ohio) receives grants from 178 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,229,811 to it, the largest being THE ELLIOT FOUNDATION INC ($2,750,313). 110 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 178 organizations giving $29,229,811 in grants to KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION, 110 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION?
THE ELLIOT FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,750,313 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 178 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