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California · Nonprofit

THE AMERICAN AI FORUM

THE AMERICAN AI FORUM (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,054,683 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$4.0M
Funders on record
18
Grants received
$14M
Net assets
$5.0M
8/18 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 63%
01What it does

What The American Ai Forum does

Mission

The ai education project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that creates equitable learning experiences that excite and empower students everywhere with ai literacy.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. The ai education project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that creates equitable learning experiences that excite and empower students everywhere with ai literacy. We believe that everyone especially those who are likely to be disproportionately impacted by ai systems should have access to the conceptual knowledge and skills they need to thrive as workers, creators, consumers, and citizens.

    $5,778,975 spentof which $1,433,680 as grants$1,443,127 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,778,975.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($135k) Expenses 100 ($155k) Net assets -10 ($-19714)2020 Revenue 162 ($218k) Expenses 142 ($219k) Net assets -10 ($-20305)2021 Revenue 562 ($759k) Expenses 344 ($533k) Net assets 100 ($206k)2022 Revenue 1359 ($1.8M) Expenses 591 ($914k) Net assets 536 ($1.1M)2023 Revenue 8891 ($12M) Expenses 1896 ($2.9M) Net assets 5049 ($10M)2024 Revenue 1783 ($2.4M) Expenses 3424 ($5.3M) Net assets 3647 ($7.5M)2025 Revenue 2949 ($4.0M) Expenses 4222 ($6.5M) Net assets 2409 ($5.0M)
2019202020212022202320242025
Revenue (2949)Expenses (4222)Net assets (2409)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 $1.6M to $11M (+594%).

$40k
$53k
$280k
$1.6M
$11M
$8.0M
$5.5M
2019202020212022202320242025
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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

60% of THE AMERICAN AI FORUM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (67% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 498 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$20k
’19
−$591
’20
$227k
’21
$920k
’22
$9.1M
’23
−$2.9M
’24
−$2.6M
’25
8.7
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.

Chief executive

Alex Kotran

Chief executive officer

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed46681212
Joined·+2+0+2+6+2
No longer listed·00022
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $79k → $7.4M.

8 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 THE AMERICAN AI FORUM’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

THE AMERICAN AI FORUM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

70% 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 THE AMERICAN AI FORUM.

36%
largest funder
71%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 81% · 2021 63% · 2022 87% · 2023 67% — 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

50% of THE AMERICAN AI FORUM's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 44% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

66% of THE AMERICAN AI FORUM'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 $4.8M that is directly attributable, 66% of it comes from funders outside California, across 6 states.

MI
NY
MA
CA
CO
DE

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

’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.3M 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

THE AMERICAN AI FORUM has grown faster than three-quarters of the 210 science & tech nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−64% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve8.7mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)76% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 science & tech nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like THE AMERICAN AI FORUM

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 California

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 8%Fundraising 3%

Governance

6
board members
83%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

78%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 40 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE AMERICAN AI FORUM: 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 THE AMERICAN AI FORUM?
THE AMERICAN AI FORUM (California) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,054,683 to it, the largest being TIDES FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does THE AMERICAN AI FORUM have?
IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $14,054,683 in grants to THE AMERICAN AI FORUM, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE AMERICAN AI FORUM?
TIDES 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 THE AMERICAN AI FORUM find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 18 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