California · Nonprofit
The Institute for College Access & Success
The Institute for College Access & Success (California) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,847,204 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($7,261,249). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.1M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $22M
- Net assets
- $6.1M
What The Institute for College Access & Success does
Mission
We seek to support state and federal policymakers through research, policy analysis, and advocacy about building a better, more affordable, and higher quality higher education system.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS or the Organization) is a trusted source of research, design, and advocacy for student-centered public policies that promote a better higher education system. We conduct and disseminate research to understand student outcomes in higher education, build coalitions of nonprofit advocates, and develop policy recommendations. We advocate for their adoption at the federal level, as well as the state level in California, Michigan, and New York. Our program work aims to strengthen student financial aid, increase federal support for public higher education, simplify the student loan repayment system, expand comprehensive college support strategies that improve student success, and improve access and completion of postsecondary credentials for students from minoritized and poverty impacted communities. We also seek to ensure colleges are held appropriately accountable for student outcomes, and that students and families have the information they need to make informed decisions about where to go to college and how to pay for it. Over the course of 2024, we put forward over 50 publications which advanced the goals above and supported state…
$4,822,438 spentof which $391,900 as grants$38,983 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,822,438.
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 2021 to 2022, from $4.9M to $6.8M (+37%).
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 20% · 2021 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of The Institute for College Access & Success’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% 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.
Board chair
Zakiya Smith Ellis
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $3.6M.
6 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 Institute for College Access & Success’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 Institute for College Access & Success has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 74% · 2018 58% · 2019 55% · 2020 50% · 2021 24% · 2022 25% · 2023 26% — 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
60% of The Institute for College Access & Success's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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 Institute for College Access & Success draws 83% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 Institute for College Access & Success holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like The Institute for College Access & Success
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
41%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Institute for College Access & Success: 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 Institute for College Access & Success?
- The Institute for College Access & Success (California) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,847,204 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($7,261,249). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Institute for College Access & Success have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $21,847,204 in grants to The Institute for College Access & Success, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Institute for College Access & Success?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $7,261,249 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Institute for College Access & Success find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 25 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