Maryland · Nonprofit
Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy
Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (Maryland) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $395,500 to it, the largest being THE MORRIS AND GWENDOLYN CAFRITZ FOUNDATION ($180,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.6M
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $396k
- Net assets
- $448k
What Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy does
Mission
Program Service Accomplishments:Form 990, Part III, Line 4a:Each year, MCAEL awards grants to support adult english language learning programs in Montgomery County, with funds provided by the Montgomery County Government. The grants both sustain and expand existing programs and help establish new programs, with the goal of increasing the availability and quality of english language instruction.Grant funding decisions are made by a volunteer grant review panel, organized by MCAEL and made up of a diverse group of community members.Community learning groups Responding to a need for english classes in communities that lack learning opportunities, MCAEL developed Community Learning Groups (CLGs), nine-week starter classes provided through partnerships with local schools, community centers, religious institutions, and businesses. The CLG model includes training new instructors, many of whom are members of the same community they are serving.Data analysisMCAEL collects, analyzes, and maps data from adult ESOL programs in the County to illustrate coalition work and impact. Our comprehensive, interactive storymap gives an overview of the adult ESOL landscape, helping mcael and coalition…
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Capacity Building: Increasing access to high-quality instruction Professional Development MCAEL provides free professional development opportunities for program administrators and instructors throughout Montgomery County to support Staff and ensure quality instruction. Each year, we hold 5 to 6 convenings for program administrators and 8 to 10 instructor workshops and sharing sessions. We also recruit and train much-needed new instructors. Community Grants
$1,643,092 spentof which $1,468,784 as grants77% of program spendingPublic Engagement: education, advocacy, & community Education Using data and stories, MCAEL educates and engages the public on the power of adult english language learning to transform individual lives and the impact that adult english classes have on the health and economic well-being of our county. Advocacy MCAEL works closely with the Montgomery County government, businesses,
$480,473 spent23% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,123,565.
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 $499k to $611k (+22%).
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: 2017 95% · 2018 95% · 2019 93% · 2020 95% · 2021 95% · 2022 91% · 2023 93% · 2024 94% · 2025 95%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Gerard Etienne
Executive Director Current
Board chair
Sean Klein
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $14k → $66k.
1 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy’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
Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy leans on a few funders — its largest provides 46% of grant income and the top three 64%; 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 52% · 2018 100% · 2019 40% · 2020 50% · 2021 47% · 2022 76% · 2023 61% — growing more concentrated.
“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 Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $32k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 4 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% 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
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy: 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 Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy?
- Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (Maryland) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $395,500 to it, the largest being THE MORRIS AND GWENDOLYN CAFRITZ FOUNDATION ($180,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $395,500 in grants to Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy?
- THE MORRIS AND GWENDOLYN CAFRITZ FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $180,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy 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.
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