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Texas · Nonprofit

THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE

THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE (Texas) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,819,050 to it, the largest being GARY SINISE FOUNDATION ($645,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$582k
Funders on record
18
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$137k
10/18 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 99%
01What it does

What The Gratitude Initiative does

Mission

Founded in 2013, gratitude initiative honors the service and sacrifice of our military, veteran and law-enforcement families by providing essential education programs and scholarships to help their children succeed in college, career, and life.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Each day, both in our own communities and around the globe, brave moms and dads risk their lives to keep us safe and free. Our military service members and law enforcement officers deserve our deepest gratitude. We believe there is no greater way to honor their sacrifice than to help prepare their children for college and a successful future.Gratitude Initiatives College Success Academy Program is the most comprehensive career and college counseling, SAT/ACT prep, and financial aid counseling program available today. It is provided free of charge to the families we serve. GIs low-cost, high-impact program is increasing college access and degree attainment for these young heroes, including many students who are the first in their families to attend college.GI is the only nonprofit providing comprehensive college/career prep for military and law enforcement teens. Over the past six years, our results have been unparalleled: 99% of students were accepted into one or both of their top two colleges, the average financial award from their colleges has been $23,587/year, 100% said our program reduced stress and helped the students better focus on their high school classes.GI's College…

    $793,312 spent
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $793,312.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($170k) Expenses 100 ($149k) Net assets 100 ($197k)2018 Revenue 104 ($176k) Expenses 144 ($215k) Net assets 80 ($158k)2019 Revenue 221 ($375k) Expenses 191 ($285k) Net assets 126 ($248k)2021 Revenue 154 ($262k) Expenses 225 ($336k) Net assets 205 ($406k)2022 Revenue 369 ($627k) Expenses 235 ($352k) Net assets 345 ($681k)2023 Revenue 418 ($709k) Expenses 568 ($849k) Net assets 274 ($541k)2024 Revenue 524 ($888k) Expenses 675 ($1.0M) Net assets 212 ($420k)2025 Revenue 343 ($582k) Expenses 579 ($865k) Net assets 69 ($137k)
'17'18'19'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (343)Expenses (579)Net assets (69)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 2021 to 2022, from $406k to $681k (+68%).

$197k
$158k
$248k
$406k
$681k
$650k
$473k
$207k
'17'18'19'21'22'23'24'25
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.

2017
2018
2019
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

99% of THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$20k
’17
−$39k
’18
$90k
’19
−$74k
’21
$275k
’22
−$140k
’23
−$121k
’24
−$283k
’25
2.8
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.

201920212022202320242025
Listed666888
Joined··+0+2+0+0
No longer listed··0000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $168k → $340k.

3 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 GRATITUDE INITIATIVE’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 GRATITUDE INITIATIVE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 35% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

80% 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 GRATITUDE INITIATIVE.

35%
largest funder
62%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 50% · 2019 57% · 2020 64% · 2021 43% · 2022 56% · 2023 44% — 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

25% of THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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 GRATITUDE INITIATIVE draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Texas, across 8 states in all.

ID
IN
CA
MO
VA
TN
NC
TX

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Texas out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $176k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE has grown faster than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−49% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.8mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)17% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE

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 Texas

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

92% of spending goes to programs.

Program 92%Management 4%Fundraising 4%

Governance

5
board members
80%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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 GRATITUDE INITIATIVE: 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 GRATITUDE INITIATIVE?
THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE (Texas) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,819,050 to it, the largest being GARY SINISE FOUNDATION ($645,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE have?
IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,819,050 in grants to THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE?
GARY SINISE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $645,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE GRATITUDE INITIATIVE find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Gratitude Initiative →

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 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