Ohio · Nonprofit
THE BIG BUS
THE BIG BUS (Ohio) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $115,154 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($84,154). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $123k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $115k
- Net assets
- $147k
What The Big Bus does
Mission
To increase access to resources, opportunities, and learning by meeting students and families where they are. Our early-stage approach is focused on academic support for immigrant and refugee populations.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
The organization provides after-school k-5 tutoring at a westerville area multi-family residential complex.
$112,563 spent76% of program spendingThe organization provides after-school k-5 tutoring at a westerville-area multi-family residential complex.
$35,558 spent24% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $148,121.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $103k to $175k (+71%).
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.
97% of THE BIG BUS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
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
Tracy Davidson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $45k → $15k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 BIG BUS’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 BIG BUS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 BIG BUS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 59% — 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.
Where its funders are
73% of THE BIG BUS'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 $31k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Ohio funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $84k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 BIG BUS receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $115k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,917 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like THE BIG BUS
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 THE BIG BUS: 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 BIG BUS?
- THE BIG BUS (Ohio) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $115,154 to it, the largest being COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ($84,154). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE BIG BUS have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $115,154 in grants to THE BIG BUS, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BIG BUS?
- COLUMBUS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $84,154 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BIG BUS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Big Bus →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 3 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