Skip to content

Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

NORTHSTAR TUTORING

NORTHSTAR TUTORING (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $69,985 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($46,450). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$251k
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$70k
Net assets
$49k
2/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 10%
01What it does

What Northstar Tutoring does

Mission

Northstar Tutoring's mission is to provide free, one-on-one tutoring and mentoring to Washington, D.C. area students from families with low incomes to help them succeed in both their academic and personal lives.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Mt. Pleasant Library: In 2024, Northstar provided free one-on-one tutoring for K-12 students at the Mt. Pleasant Library, with a focus on supporting students from low-income families in Washington, D.C., particularly in the Columbia Heights area. We held two tutoring sessions per week throughout the academic year and served approximately 50 students. A team of 110 volunteer tutors participated in this program, each paired with a student to provide weekly academic and mentoring support. Sessions focused on completing homework, preparing for tests and quizzes, and working through supplemental educational materials created by Northstar. Each volunteer contributed an estimated 40 hours over the course of the year.

    $46,025 spent
    20% of program spending
  2. Hyattsville: At our Hyattsville site, Northstar served 85 K-12 students in 2024, with the support of 130 volunteer tutors. We offered three 90-minute tutoring sessions per week during the school year and a five-week summer program with two sessions per week. Students were matched with individual tutors for consistent, one-on-one support. Tutoring sessions focused on homework help as well as individualized subject based instruction. Northstar developed tailored supplemental materials aligned with each student's academic goals, which were informed by school grades, standardized test scores, and assessment data. Tutors contributed an estimated 67.5 hours each over the year (1.5 hours per week for 45 weeks).

    $32,739 spent
    14% of program spending
  3. Rita Bright: Northstar's long-standing partnership with the Rita Bright Center continued in 2024, serving approximately 70 K-8th grade students through twice-weekly tutoring sessions. These 90-minute sessions were held in the evenings during the academic year and focused on targeted support in math and reading. Students worked one-on-one with tutors using high-impact tutoring curriculum aligned to grade-level standards. In total, 120 tutors participated at this site. During the January-May portion of the school year, volunteers each contributed an estimated 27 hours (1.5 hours per week for 18 weeks).

    $43,262 spent
    19% of program spending
  4. Sasha Bruce: 2024 marked the launch of a new partnership between Northstar and Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a program focused on reentry support for formerly incarcerated youth. We served 25 students through a flexible tutoring model that allowed them to sign up for one to three 90-minute sessions per week, either in person or online. Tutoring support focused on completing school assignments, subject-specific tutoring, and GED preparation. A total of 30 tutors supported this program, providing both academic guidance and mentorship. Each volunteer contributed an estimated 15 hours from October to December (1.5 hours per week for 10 weeks).

    $24,425 spent
    11% of program spending
  5. Center City: Northstar partnered for the first time with Center City Public Charter School's Shaw campus in 2024. We offered two one-hour sessions per week for K-8th grade students during the school year. Each student was matched with a volunteer tutor for one-on-one support focused on math and reading. Sessions followed structured curriculum and instructional materials. Each volunteer contributed an estimated 10 hours from October to December (1 hour per week for 10 weeks).

    $37,943 spent
    16% of program spending
  6. Hyattsville Middle: In late 2024, Northstar began preparations for a new tutoring and mentoring program at Hyattsville Middle School, which officially launched in early 2025. Advance costs included outreach to potential tutors, conducting interviews and background checks, and planning individualized instruction based on student needs. Staff also worked closely with school administrators to align scheduling, space, and academic goals. The program was designed to support up to 45 students with two personalized tutoring sessions per week focused on math and reading.

    $24,465 spent
    11% of program spending
  7. Oxon Hill: During the fall of 2024, Northstar prepared for the launch of its Oxon Hill tutoring program in February 2025. These expenses were related to tutor recruitment, interviews, and background checks, as well as staff time spent developing curriculum plans and coordinating logistics with the school site. The program was designed to serve up to 45 students with twice-weekly, one-on-one tutoring sessions in reading and math.

    $22,584 spent
    10% of program spending

The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $231,443.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($104k) Expenses 100 ($88k) Net assets 100 ($36k)2021 Revenue 99 ($103k) Expenses 88 ($77k) Net assets 171 ($61k)2022 Revenue 150 ($156k) Expenses 161 ($142k) Net assets 210 ($75k)2023 Revenue 239 ($249k) Expenses 277 ($244k) Net assets 225 ($81k)2024 Revenue 241 ($251k) Expenses 320 ($283k) Net assets 137 ($49k)
20202021202220232024
Revenue (241)Expenses (320)Net assets (137)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 2023 to 2024, from $81k to $50k (−38%).

$36k
$61k
$75k
$81k
$50k
20202021202220232024
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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2023 29% · 2024 32%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of NORTHSTAR TUTORING’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$16k
’20
$26k
’21
$14k
’22
$5k
’23
−$31k
’24
2.1
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

Jennifer Townsend

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

20232024
Listed76
Joined·+0
No longer listed·1
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $15k → $11k.

1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 NORTHSTAR TUTORING’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

NORTHSTAR TUTORING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

66% 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 NORTHSTAR TUTORING.

66%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 91% — 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

66% of NORTHSTAR TUTORING's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $24k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 3 states.

NJ
VA
MD

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $46k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

NORTHSTAR TUTORING has grown faster than three-quarters of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−13% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.1mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)25% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like NORTHSTAR TUTORING

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

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 9%Fundraising 9%

Governance

6
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

DC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTHSTAR TUTORING: 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 NORTHSTAR TUTORING?
NORTHSTAR TUTORING (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $69,985 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($46,450). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does NORTHSTAR TUTORING have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $69,985 in grants to NORTHSTAR TUTORING, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of NORTHSTAR TUTORING?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $46,450 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like NORTHSTAR TUTORING 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.

Play a game about who funds Northstar Tutoring →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 4 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