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Nevada · Nonprofit

Special Olympics Nevada

Special Olympics Nevada (Nevada) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,201,955 to it, the largest being SPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC ($862,484). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$2.6M
Funders on record
33
Grants received
$2.2M
Net assets
$961k
15/33 repeat funders
01What it does

What Special Olympics Nevada does

Mission

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This gives them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Community Sports - This SONV programs provides opportunities for people with and without ID to engage in sports together all year long. Our program is free of charge to participants and has activities for every ability level. Children that are interesting in competing can enter competitions as young as 8 years old; but we have programming for ages 2 senior citizens. Our southern Nevada sports schedule includes the following: basketball, bowling, bocce, flag football, golf, swimming and track and field. During 2024, SONV engaged over 2,818 athletes and 1,968 volunteers in this program.

    $356,327 spent
    34% of program spending
  2. Unified Champion Schools - This program focuses on creating inclusive school campuses for people with ID. The program targets students without disabilities i.e., student leaders to be the drivers of the program. Student leaders encourage their friends without disabilities to include students with disabilities in activities that they lead on their campus. The Champion Schools program includes lessons and opportunities for students to create events that engage the entire school and sports training and leadership development. During 2024, SONV was able to engage 75 schools in the Champion Schools Program. The program also engaged 28,941 students within the State of Nevada.

    $227,746 spentof which $37,593 as grants
    22% of program spending
  3. Mindset Matters - This program utilizes some aspects of the Strong Minds program, in addition to new elements from the 8-Dimensions of Wellness Model, the Together Counts Program, and evidence-based activities to teach Nevada students adaptive coping skills and strategies to maintain emotional wellness. The Mindset Matters program includes topics such as: emotion identification and regulation, relaxation breathing, cognitive restructuring, muscle relaxation, mindfulness and interpersonal relationships, and social wellness and social skills. During 2024, SONV was able to engage over 4,500 students and 200 volunteers in this program.

    $221,637 spent
    21% of program spending
  4. Athlete Leadership - This program allows people with disabilities the opportunity to receive training in speech writing and coaching so that they feel comfortable speaking in public. Program participants that receive this training have the opportunity to advocate; meeting annually with Nevada delegates at the national and state level; to speak first-hand on the impact that SONVs programs is having in their lives. Other program participants make presentations to corporate boards or business organizations to support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Athlete leaders also engage in SONV fundraising activities and interviews to broaden awareness of the organizations work. During 2024, SONV engaged 65 athletes in this program.

    $140,387 spent
    13% of program spending
  5. Healthy Athletes - Through this program, Nevada has the opportunity to position the state as a region where people with ID are provided full inclusion in mainstream health policies, laws, programs and services, research and funding streams. At our national level, Special Olympics has partnered with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to create curriculum so that local programs can train physicians, medical technicians and higher education students studying these disciplines in their state to become volunteers and provide health screenings and education to people with ID and underserved communities. On average, people with ID live 16 years less than the general population, so these health screenings allow us to mitigate health risks. SONV offers health screenings in the following areas: vision, hearing, BMI, podiatry, dental, mental health/stress management, endurance and flexibility testing. During 2024, SONV provided screenings to 200 athletes and trained 17 Clinical Directors in this program.

    $103,621 spent
    10% of program spending

The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,049,718.

02The organization over time

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

Terrence Thornton

President & CEO

Board chair

David Bowman

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $2k → $154k.

4 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 Special Olympics Nevada’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

Special Olympics Nevada leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

55% 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 Special Olympics Nevada.

39%
largest funder
87%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 56% · 2019 97% · 2020 40% · 2021 96% · 2022 83% · 2023 46% — growing more concentrated.

“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

54% of Special Olympics Nevada's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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

54% of Special Olympics Nevada's grant income comes from Nevada funders.

WA
MN
WI
NV
PA
CA
MO

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $289k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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

Special Olympics Nevada runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,728 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.

Operating margin35% · top quartile
Months of reserve6.6mo · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,728 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like Special Olympics Nevada

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 Nevada

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

62% of spending goes to programs.

Program 62%Management 18%Fundraising 20%

Governance

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

Public support

0%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NV

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Special Olympics Nevada: 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 Special Olympics Nevada?
Special Olympics Nevada (Nevada) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,201,955 to it, the largest being SPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC ($862,484). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Special Olympics Nevada have?
IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $2,201,955 in grants to Special Olympics Nevada, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Special Olympics Nevada?
SPECIAL OLYMPICS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INC is the largest funder on record, with $862,484 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Special Olympics Nevada find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nevada. 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 Special Olympics Nevada →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2024–2024), 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing