Maryland · Nonprofit
THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC
THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC (Maryland) receives grants from 193 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,431,611 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,527,478). 130 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 193
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $61M
What The Aopa Foundation Inc does
Mission
See schedule oto promote, advance and encourage aviation and airport safety and security and the research and testing in the support thereof; to educate the public and users of the national air transportation system to the value and importance of general aviation to the national airtransportation system; to encourage and support the flight training of pilots to assure the future of general aviation as an important component of the national air system; to lessen the burdens of federal, state and local governments in connection with the maintenance andadvancement of general aviation, and aviation and airport safety and security; and to assist other charitable and other organizations in the conduct of similar activities to the extent that such activities are in the furtherance of charitable, educational and/or scientific purposes.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
See schedule othe aopa foundation (the foundation) is a tax-exempt charitable, educational, and scientific organization that educates the public about the value of general aviation. The foundation's mission is to ensure the future of general aviation by improving safety through the aircraft owners and pilots association's (aopa) air safety institute, preserving community airports, and encouraging learning to fly for career and personal benefit.you can flythe aopa foundation's you can fly program is a set of initiatives designed to get people flying and keep them flying. With initiatives to introduce high school students to career opportunities in aviation and aerospace, provide support for flight schools and students, deliver tools and resources to help pilots create and grow flying clubs, and help lapsed pilots get back in the air, you can fly is supporting aviators at every stage of their journey.the foundation provides free four year aviation stem curriculum to thousands of high school students nationwide. An annual symposium for educators helps schools create and grow aviation stem programs to meet their specific needs, while $1 million in scholarships are awarded annually to…
$10,060,533 spentof which $2,817,974 as grants$885,044 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,060,533.
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 2023 to 2024, from $53M to $62M (+17%).
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.
73% of THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (79% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Mark R Baker
CEO/president
Board chair
William C Trimble Iii
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 53 funders to 92 funders, grant income rose $751k → $2.6M.
34 of 193 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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: $366k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association). These are real filings, and they are not money THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 193 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
THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
48% 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 AOPA FOUNDATION INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 28% · 2019 19% · 2020 22% · 2021 19% · 2022 22% · 2023 19% — 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
49% of THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.
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
THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 36 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 22 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
THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 55 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 55 public safety & disaster nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $498k on record.
- Department of Transportation$498k
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 THE AOPA FOUNDATION 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 Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 27 states
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- General Aviation Stakeholders Unlimited · disregarded
- Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association · exempt
- Aopa Political Action Committee · exempt
- Aopa Holdings Corporation · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE AOPA FOUNDATION 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 THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC?
- THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC (Maryland) receives grants from 193 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,431,611 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,527,478). 130 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 193 organizations giving $14,431,611 in grants to THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC, 130 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,527,478 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE AOPA FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 193 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