Michigan · Nonprofit
National Center for Grow Your Own
National Center for Grow Your Own (Michigan) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,410,000 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($2,025,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $3.4M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What National Center for Grow Your Own does
Mission
NCGYOs mission is to create a world where one can become an educator for free while getting paid to do so, primarily via Grow Your Own and Registered Apprenticeship programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
NCGYO provides technical assistance and professional learning networks to state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) in partnership with institutes of higher education (IHEs) or Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) as they launch or expand Grow your Own and/or Registered Apprenticeship programs in the K-12 education sector. We also serve as a thought-leader in the space, advancing the apprenticeship model as the gold standard of teacher preparation through such activities as speaking at conferences, serving on government-sponsored committees, testifying to legislatures, and speaking on webinars.
$973,154 spentof which $125,000 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $973,154.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $451k to $4.5M (+891%).
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: 2023 15% · 2024 30%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
31% of National Center for Grow Your Own’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 3 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
David Donaldson
Founder and CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $25k → $2.0M.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 National Center for Grow Your Own’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
National Center for Grow Your Own leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 76% — 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.
Where its funders are
National Center for Grow Your Own draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $325k 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.
Against its field
National Center for Grow Your Own runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding National Center for Grow Your Own receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $225k on record.
- MA$121k
- DE$104k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like National Center for Grow Your Own
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for National Center for Grow Your Own: 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 National Center for Grow Your Own?
- National Center for Grow Your Own (Michigan) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,410,000 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($2,025,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does National Center for Grow Your Own have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $3,410,000 in grants to National Center for Grow Your Own, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of National Center for Grow Your Own?
- HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,025,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like National Center for Grow Your Own find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), 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