Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK
NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,613,998 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($12,306,846). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.6M
- Funders on record
- 41
- Grants received
- $31M
- Net assets
- $4.9M
What National College Attainment Network does
Mission
Our mission is to build, strengthen, and empower communities and stakeholders to close equity gaps in postsecondary attainment for all students.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Ncan's 3 strategies: we can create opportunities for all students.ncan helps students access and succeed in college in three ways:1. Bolstering the skills of college access and success practitioners through professional development.2. Advocating for more equitable policies to help more students successfully pursue education after high school.3. Championing systemic changes in both k-12 and higher education that better support students through the postsecondary pipeline.(continued on schedule o)bolster skillsto do their best work for students, individuals who provide college access and success services must be well-trained and well-informed.ncan provides our members with tools to improve and grow, opportunities to share and learn effective practices, periodic regrants for new initiatives, and insight into national trends and research. Professional development resources include frequent webinars, moderated peer exchanges, a comprehensive e-learning curriculum, and an annual conference with dozens of juried workshop sessions. Ncan's blog and weekly newsletter keep members up to date on the latest research, policy developments, grant opportunities, and innovative program strategies.…
$8,039,616 spentof which $579,586 as grants$1,825,653 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $8,039,616.
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 2024 to 2025, from $12M to $7.3M (−40%).
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: 2021 2% · 2022 9% · 2023 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Kimberly Cook
President/CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $2.5M → $3.4M.
6 of 41 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 41 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
NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
27% 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 NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 62% · 2018 51% · 2019 81% · 2020 51% · 2021 77% · 2022 39% · 2023 46% — 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
47% of NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 20 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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 COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK's funding base is broadening — from 10 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
52%
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 NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK: 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 COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK?
- NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 41 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,613,998 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($12,306,846). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK have?
- IRS filings report 41 organizations giving $30,613,998 in grants to NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $12,306,846 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL COLLEGE ATTAINMENT NETWORK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 41 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