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Ohio · Nonprofit

The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation

The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation (Ohio) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,709,703 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($11,109,011). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$7.2M
Funders on record
62
Grants received
$16M
Net assets
$11M
36/62 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 29%
01What it does

What The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation does

Mission

To strengthen the communities we serve through programs and services that inspire and inform, educate and engage, fostering citizenship and culture, the joy of learning and the power of diverse perspectives.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Greater Cincinnati's leading provider of education and enrichment in both living rooms and classrooms, reaching more than 2 million residents, 470,000 students and 37,000 teachers. Through PBS and local programming, CETCONNECT.org innovative multimedia curriculum projects, parent workshops and professional development for teachers, CET positively impacts our community with rich and diverse resources, provides multichannel broadcast and cable services.

    $4,857,963 spent$323,051 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Donated services with a value of $1,358,381 were received in the current year.

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,857,963.

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 ($5.1M) Expenses 100 ($5.0M) Net assets 100 ($3.1M)2018 Revenue 114 ($5.8M) Expenses 100 ($5.0M) Net assets 142 ($4.5M)2019 Revenue 140 ($7.2M) Expenses 104 ($5.2M) Net assets 201 ($6.3M)2020 Revenue 121 ($6.2M) Expenses 107 ($5.4M) Net assets 207 ($6.5M)2021 Revenue 141 ($7.2M) Expenses 112 ($5.6M) Net assets 312 ($9.8M)2022 Revenue 137 ($7.0M) Expenses 120 ($6.0M) Net assets 312 ($9.7M)2023 Revenue 158 ($8.1M) Expenses 145 ($7.3M) Net assets 346 ($11M)2024 Revenue 160 ($8.2M) Expenses 159 ($8.0M) Net assets 362 ($11M)2025 Revenue 141 ($7.2M) Expenses 147 ($7.4M) Net assets 362 ($11M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (141)Expenses (147)Net assets (362)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 2020 to 2021, from $8.6M to $11M (+22%).

$5.2M
$5.8M
$7.4M
$8.6M
$11M
$10M
$11M
$12M
$12M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 24% · 2018 23% · 2019 20% · 2020 26% · 2021 35% · 2022 23% · 2023 24% · 2024 23% · 2025 27%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

84% of The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,377 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$110k
’17
$802k
’18
$2.0M
’19
$854k
’20
$1.6M
’21
$971k
’22
$816k
’23
$267k
’24
−$161k
’25
4.5
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

Dorthy K Lensman

President & CEO

Board chair

Dave Taylor

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed343634353430303031
Joined·+4+10+1+5+2+2+4+5
No longer listed·212066244
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $2.1M.

14 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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: $1.1M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Public Media Connect). These are real filings, and they are not money The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation raised.

From the IRS filings of The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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 Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 71% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

88% 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 Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation.

71%
largest funder
86%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 72% · 2019 72% · 2020 69% · 2021 78% · 2022 69% · 2023 58% — 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

45% of The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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 Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 14 states in all.

IL
WI
NY
MA
IN
OH
CT
KY
VA
MD
NC
DC
TX
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation is better cushioned than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−2% · below the median
Months of reserve4.5mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

66% of spending goes to programs.

Program 66%Management 19%Fundraising 15%

Governance

25
board members
96%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

93%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 2 states

OH
KY

Part of a family of 3 related entities

  • Greater Dayton Public Television · exempt
  • Public Media Connect · exempt
  • Southwestern Ohio Instructional Technology Association · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation?
The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation (Ohio) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $15,709,703 to it, the largest being CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING ($11,109,011). 36 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation have?
IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $15,709,703 in grants to The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation, 36 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation?
CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING is the largest funder on record, with $11,109,011 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation 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 Greater Cincinnati Television Educational →

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 62 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