Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM
THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $93,211,307 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($87,022,324). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $93M
- Net assets
- $4.0M
What The Center for Education Reform does
Mission
To expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all americans, particularly our children, ensuring that the conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom, and flexibility throughout u.s. Education.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
"grant making"The Center for Education Reform administers the yass prize for sustainable, transformational, outstanding and permissionless education, which provides financial awards to selected schools and education providers which provide outstanding education to underserved populations, as well as manages related grants under the yass foundation for education.
$20,688,646 spentof which $14,911,728 as grants93% of program spending"communications"The Center for Education Reform provides ready access to thousands of pieces of information about education annually. Cer develops and markets important information to the general public through materials and publications, websites, conferences, meetings, and through abundant contact with the news media; to ensure that the issues around education are well-understood by parents, policymakers, and the general public. Annually cer provides information and firsthand knowledge about education programs and policies to more than 1000 media representatives, whose news coverage further educates the public about numerous education subjects.
$1,539,084 spent7% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $22,227,730.
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 $23M to $5.7M (−75%).
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: 2020 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (58% 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
Jeanne Allen
Founder and CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 9 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $634k → $19M.
8 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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 CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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 CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 93% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
94% 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 CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 42% · 2019 89% · 2020 54% · 2021 83% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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
12% of THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
94% of THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM'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 $5.8M that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 15 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $87M 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.
Against its field
THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM has grown faster than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- ASSOC DUES AND CONF FEES$10k
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 CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
99% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM: 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 CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM?
- THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $93,211,307 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($87,022,324). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $93,211,307 in grants to THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $87,022,324 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 34 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