Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
NRF FOUNDATION
NRF FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,159,200 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($413,100). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2026
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $16M
What Nrf Foundation does
Mission
The Nrf Foundation shapes retail's future by building awareness of the industry through statistics and stories; developing talent through education, experiences and scholarships; and fostering career growth among people who work in retail.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Programs
Research and retail industry projects: in order to ensure future leadership in the retail industry, the foundation actively works with current retail leaders, educational institutions and students informing and educating them about career paths within the retail industry. The foundation also provides platforms where all of these participants can meet and engage with one another.
$3,641,406 spent$2,194,012 earned by the program47% of program spendingRise up: training and credentialing initiative designed by the retail industry to help people - regardless of educational background, economic means or age - acquire the skills they need to land jobs in retail and advance into promising careers.
$2,436,898 spent$7,629,175 earned by the program32% of program spendingScholarship programs: in support of its mission to advance the interests of the retail industry through education, the foundation sponsors several programs providing scholarships to indviduals attending eligible institutions who are interested in a variety of careers within the industry. The criteria for awarding scholarships are further described in schedule I of this form 990.
$874,824 spentof which $874,824 as grants$274,105 earned by the program11% of program spendingCareers and student outreach
$753,146 spent10% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,706,274.
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.
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 $14M to $18M (+32%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 10 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.
Board chair
Steven Preston
Chair
As listed on its FY2026 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $35k → $186k.
3 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $200k from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Communities Foundation of Texas Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money NRF FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of NRF FOUNDATION’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
NRF FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% 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
65% 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 NRF FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 71% · 2019 59% · 2020 58% · 2021 40% · 2022 59% · 2023 40% — 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
22% of NRF FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
51% of NRF FOUNDATION'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 $571k that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 10 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $589k 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.
Government funding NRF FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $867k on record.
- NJ$862k
- DE$5k
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 NRF FOUNDATION
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 31 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- National Retail Federation · exempt
- Nrf Political Action Committee · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NRF FOUNDATION: 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 NRF FOUNDATION?
- NRF FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,159,200 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($413,100). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does NRF FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $1,159,200 in grants to NRF FOUNDATION, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NRF FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $413,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NRF FOUNDATION 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 Nrf →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), 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