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Arizona · Nonprofit

Million Dollar Teacher Project

Million Dollar Teacher Project (Arizona) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $584,440 to it, the largest being ELLIS CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE ($175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$297k
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$584k
Net assets
$461k
9/17 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Million Dollar Teacher Project does

Mission

To elevate the teaching profession through increased support compensation and recognition

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Teacher Appreciation Package is an effort by Million Dollar Teacher Project to connect teachers with local businesses in their community through meaningful annual discounts during National Education Month of November and Teacher Appreciation Week in May. The goal of the T.A.P. program is to elevate the spending power of teachers in Arizona whose compensation does not keep up with their personal and classroom needs.

    $53,621 spent
    25% of program spending
  2. Take a Teacher to Lunch TTL is an initiative we launched to turn teacher recognition into a year-round sustained effort. Teaching is a thankless job and there are thousands of teachers each year who go unappreciated and unrecognized. TTL is our way to fix that. Our goal is to bring this program to every school district in the state of Arizona in some capacity by the end of 2028.

    $64,345 spent
    30% of program spending
  3. The Classroom Support Team CST is composed of interns and community volunteers who assist a specific grade level of teachers. This year the program operated from September 3 2024 to March 28 2025. During this period 11 CST interns supported educators at Madrid Neighborhood School and Wilson School District positively impacting the learning experiences of over 400 students.

    $96,517 spent
    45% of program spending
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
    0% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $214,483.

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 ($59k) Expenses 100 ($83k) Net assets 100 ($5k)2022 Revenue 1171 ($688k) Expenses 233 ($193k) Net assets 9118 ($500k)2023 Revenue 725 ($426k) Expenses 386 ($321k) Net assets 11039 ($606k)2024 Revenue 523 ($308k) Expenses 512 ($425k) Net assets 8898 ($488k)2025 Revenue 505 ($297k) Expenses 391 ($324k) Net assets 8400 ($461k)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (505)Expenses (391)Net assets (8400)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 $5k to $500k (+9018%).

$5k
$500k
$686k
$570k
$561k
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

Government-grant reliance: 2023 4% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

60% of Million Dollar Teacher Project’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (54% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,338 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

−$24k
’21
$495k
’22
$105k
’23
−$117k
’24
−$28k
’25
19
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

LLoyd Hopkins

Founder and CEO

Board chair

Karen Ulinski

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

2022202320242025
Listed77109
Joined·+0+3+3
No longer listed·004
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $5k → $124k.

3 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 Million Dollar Teacher Project’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

Million Dollar Teacher Project leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

88% 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 Million Dollar Teacher Project.

30%
largest funder
66%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 33% · 2022 48% · 2023 81% — 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

33% of Million Dollar Teacher Project's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

87% of Million Dollar Teacher Project's grant income comes from Arizona funders.

MN
OH
CA
AZ
NC

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

’21
’22
’23
Arizona out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $182k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Million Dollar Teacher Project holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,448 employment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−9% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve18.8mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)50% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,448 employment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Million Dollar Teacher Project

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 18%Fundraising 16%

Governance

10
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

AZ

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Million Dollar Teacher Project: 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 Million Dollar Teacher Project?
Million Dollar Teacher Project (Arizona) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $584,440 to it, the largest being ELLIS CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE ($175,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Million Dollar Teacher Project have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $584,440 in grants to Million Dollar Teacher Project, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Million Dollar Teacher Project?
ELLIS CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Million Dollar Teacher Project 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 2021–2025), and the filings of 17 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