Florida · Nonprofit
Starter Studio FL Inc
Starter Studio FL Inc (Florida) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,246,126 to it, the largest being EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC ($1,000,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $625k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Starter Studio FL Inc does
Mission
Starter studio is a non-profit, early-stage tech/innovation accelerator. Its mission is to empower startup entrepreneurs with the required knowledge, skills, resources, support and investment to do more, successfully; to improve access, opportunity and support for a broader group of founders by being the gateway to an ecosystem of learning, subject matter experts, transformation and success.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
To build a diverse tech and innovation ecosystem in central florida by investing time and resources in promising tech startups. To provide three world-class accelerator programs for founders of early-stage tech startups, offering the opportunity to learn the skills, competencies, business disciplines, best practice tools and access to other resources, including subject matter experts and coaching to significantly improve the chances of success. To provide pre-seed capital to early-stage technology companies that successfully graduate from the accelerator program and demonstrate significant growth potential with a broad reach of customers. Level the playing field by providing access to the available programs, resources and early-stage capital to all aspiring founders and members of our community. To continue to support our alumni and portfolio companies by connecting them to additional resources and organizations within the tech and innovation ecosystem to assist in the growth and scale phases of their entrepreneurial journey.
$460,175 spent$50,099 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $460,175.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $1.7M to $2.0M (+23%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 14% · 2020 22% · 2021 21% · 2022 37% · 2023 81% · 2024 44% · 2025 82%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of Starter Studio FL Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Dawn Haynes
CEO - executive director
Board chair
Donna Mackenzie Cpa
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $1.0M → $20k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 Starter Studio FL 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
Starter Studio FL Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
95% 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 Starter Studio FL Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 91% · 2019 67% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
99% of Starter Studio FL Inc's grant income comes from Florida funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $186k 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.
Against its field
Starter Studio FL Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 7,668 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,668 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Starter Studio FL Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $562 on record.
- REFUNDS - GENERAL $562
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 Starter Studio FL 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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Starter Studio FL 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.
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 Starter Studio FL Inc?
- Starter Studio FL Inc (Florida) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,246,126 to it, the largest being EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC ($1,000,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Starter Studio FL Inc have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $1,246,126 in grants to Starter Studio FL Inc, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Starter Studio FL Inc?
- EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Starter Studio FL Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 Starter Studio FL →
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 7 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