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Connecticut · Nonprofit

RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC

RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,971,703 to it, the largest being ANNA-MARIA AND STEPHEN KELLEN FOUNDATION INC ($1,662,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$23M
Funders on record
33
Grants received
$4.0M
Net assets
$20M
25/33 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 5%
01What it does

What Ridgefield Academy Inc does

Mission

The ridgefield academy and landmark preschool community celebrates childhood, pursues excellence and cultivates kindness. Our educational program is intellectually inspiring and we foster joyful learning and mutual respect in all that we do. We empower each student to rise to their authentic self, preparing confident graduates who shape their future with ingenuity and integrity.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Instruction and auxiliary services of approximately 550 pre-school and elementary school aged children by approximately 112 qualified instructors.

    $15,892,914 spentof which $1,683,920 as grants$16,404,933 earned by the program
    97% of program spending
  2. Conducting summer programs

    $288,339 spent$641,539 earned by the program
    2% of program spending
  3. Conducting an after school program for students

    $174,466 spent$681,154 earned by the program
    1% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,355,719.

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 ($14M) Expenses 100 ($15M) Net assets 100 ($12M)2018 Revenue 97 ($14M) Expenses 100 ($15M) Net assets 96 ($12M)2019 Revenue 100 ($14M) Expenses 105 ($16M) Net assets 85 ($10M)2020 Revenue 100 ($14M) Expenses 102 ($15M) Net assets 72 ($8.7M)2021 Revenue 94 ($14M) Expenses 94 ($14M) Net assets 82 ($9.9M)2022 Revenue 119 ($17M) Expenses 104 ($16M) Net assets 90 ($11M)2023 Revenue 137 ($20M) Expenses 112 ($17M) Net assets 120 ($14M)2024 Revenue 134 ($19M) Expenses 121 ($18M) Net assets 139 ($17M)2025 Revenue 163 ($23M) Expenses 124 ($19M) Net assets 162 ($20M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (163)Expenses (124)Net assets (162)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 2021 to 2022, from $27M to $33M (+23%).

$29M
$28M
$26M
$24M
$27M
$33M
$38M
$40M
$43M
'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

Government-grant reliance: 2022 8% · 2023 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

5% of RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,254 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$578k
’17
−$986k
’18
−$1.3M
’19
−$874k
’20
−$464k
’21
$1.5M
’22
$2.8M
’23
$1.3M
’24
$4.9M
’25
6.7
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.

Board chair

Rachel Sondheimer

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed222630313023252424
Joined·+5+5+5+2+4+4+5+5
No longer listed·114311265
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $162k → $500k.

11 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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

RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

42%
largest funder
68%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 40% · 2019 41% · 2020 27% · 2021 61% · 2022 57% · 2023 40% — 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

47% of RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Connecticut, across 9 states in all.

WI
NY
NJ
CT
CA
CO
DE
NC
TX

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $701k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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

RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin21% · top quartile
Months of reserve6.7mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)6% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY 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 Connecticut

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

88% of spending goes to programs.

Program 88%Management 7%Fundraising 5%

Governance

17
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

64%

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

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY 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 RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC?
RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC (Connecticut) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,971,703 to it, the largest being ANNA-MARIA AND STEPHEN KELLEN FOUNDATION INC ($1,662,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC have?
IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $3,971,703 in grants to RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC?
ANNA-MARIA AND STEPHEN KELLEN FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,662,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like RIDGEFIELD ACADEMY INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 Ridgefield Academy →

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 33 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