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Arizona · Nonprofit

PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC

PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC (Arizona) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,714,420 to it, the largest being PENNY AND ROBERT SARVER CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$3.2M
Funders on record
14
Grants received
$6.7M
Net assets
$8.9M
3/14 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 63%
01What it does

What Phoenix Suns Charities Inc does

Mission

Phoenix suns charities was founded in 1988 with the mission to benefit organizations that assist the needs of children and families in arizona. Due to the generosity of fans and sponsors, and underwriting by the team, phoenix suns charities has experienced steady growth and now distributes more than $3 million dollars annually to hundreds of local charities. Since its inception, phoenix suns charities has donated more than $45 million dollars to worthy arizona organizations.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Due to the generosity of fans and sponsors, as well as underwriting by the team, phoenix suns charities has experienced steady growth and distributes more than $3 million dollars annually to hundreds of local charities. Funds are raised during the nba season through special events such as the suns courtside classic, suns charities 88, and the suns assist employee giving campaign; scoreboard messages presented at suns home games; game night auctions and sales; and through special projects such as suns license plates. Finally, many generous fans and community organizations designate phoenix suns charities as the recipient of their giving led by a group of donors known as playmakers who pledge $100,000 over four years to the charity.

    $3,278,437 spentof which $3,174,072 as grants
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,278,437.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.5M) Expenses 100 ($1.4M) Net assets 100 ($1.8M)2018 Revenue 94 ($1.4M) Expenses 145 ($2.1M) Net assets 62 ($1.1M)2019 Revenue 97 ($1.4M) Expenses 103 ($1.5M) Net assets 61 ($1.1M)2020 Revenue 758 ($11M) Expenses 766 ($11M) Net assets 83 ($1.5M)2021 Revenue 162 ($2.4M) Expenses 148 ($2.1M) Net assets 100 ($1.8M)2022 Revenue 270 ($4.0M) Expenses 205 ($2.9M) Net assets 163 ($2.8M)2023 Revenue 551 ($8.1M) Expenses 192 ($2.7M) Net assets 474 ($8.3M)2024 Revenue 240 ($3.6M) Expenses 186 ($2.6M) Net assets 527 ($9.2M)2025 Revenue 214 ($3.2M) Expenses 246 ($3.5M) Net assets 509 ($8.9M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (214)Expenses (246)Net assets (509)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 2022 to 2023, from $2.8M to $8.3M (+191%).

$1.8M
$1.1M
$1.1M
$1.5M
$1.8M
$2.8M
$8.3M
$9.2M
$8.9M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

77% of PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 11,793 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$65k
’17
−$666k
’18
−$22k
’19
$390k
’20
$302k
’21
$1.1M
’22
$5.4M
’23
$930k
’24
−$312k
’25
5.0
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

Sarah Krahenbuhl

Executive director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed16181917171917173
Joined·+4+7+0+0+4+1+3+0
No longer listed·262023314
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $43k → $5.1M.

6 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% 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: $9k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Arizona Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC raised.

From the IRS filings of PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC’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

PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

74%
largest funder
96%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 86% · 2019 53% · 2020 58% · 2021 67% · 2022 70% · 2023 98% — broadly stable.

“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

20% of PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 21% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

98% of PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC's grant income comes from Arizona funders.

PA
CA
MO
AZ

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Arizona out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $135k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC is better cushioned than half of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−10% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve5.0mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC

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 Arizona

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

94% of spending goes to programs.

Program 94%Management 6%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
0%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

34%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Suns Legacy Partners LLC · partnership

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC: 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.

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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 PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC?
PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC (Arizona) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,714,420 to it, the largest being PENNY AND ROBERT SARVER CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC have?
IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $6,714,420 in grants to PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC?
PENNY AND ROBERT SARVER CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like PHOENIX SUNS CHARITIES INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 14 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