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New Jersey · Nonprofit

The Miss America Foundation Inc

The Miss America Foundation Inc (New Jersey) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $309,113 to it, the largest being Allman Medical Scholarship Foundation ($196,106). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$82k
Funders on record
10
Grants received
$309k
Net assets
$-700596
2/10 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 53%
01What it does

What The Miss America Foundation Inc does

Mission

To provide unique opportunities for young American women to obtain financial assistance in the nature of scholarship awards as a means of achieving their educational and career goals.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Foundation administers scholarship funds that are awarded by the state & local licenses of the Miss America Organization in over 800 state and local competitions throughout the United States for both the Miss America Organization competitions and the Miss America Outstanding Teen competitions nationwide.

    $125,148 spent$9,142 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. The Foundation administers placement and other scholarship funds that are awarded by the Miss America Organization at its Annual, National Competition for Miss America and its Annual, National Competition for Miss America's Outstanding Teen. In the current fiscal year, The Foundation managed and granted national placement and other scholarship awards to the women competing at both the Teen and Miss national levels of competition. These scholarship awards are granted in support of the teens and women's pursuit of continued educational and career opportunities.

  3. The Foundation raises and directly awards scholarships for women throughout the country who are looking to advance their educational and career goals. The Foundation's scholarship awards are provided to women who have demonstrated strong career and academic proficiencies and community service. These women must serve as ambassadors and role models for young women in their communities throughout the United States.

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $125,148.

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 ($517k) Expenses 100 ($518k) Net assets -87 ($-220582)2018 Revenue 109 ($566k) Expenses 92 ($476k) Net assets -51 ($-130982)2019 Revenue 116 ($601k) Expenses 79 ($409k) Net assets 100 ($255k)2020 Revenue 60 ($310k) Expenses 72 ($370k) Net assets 61 ($155k)2021 Revenue 71 ($367k) Expenses 71 ($370k) Net assets 61 ($154k)2022 Revenue 44 ($225k) Expenses 90 ($466k) Net assets -66 ($-166918)2023 Revenue 10 ($50k) Expenses 80 ($416k) Net assets -219 ($-559179)2024 Revenue 16 ($82k) Expenses 43 ($223k) Net assets -275 ($-700596)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (16)Expenses (43)Net assets (-275)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 2022 to 2023, from $2.4M to $1.7M (−29%).

$1.4M
$2.0M
$1.8M
$1.9M
$2.4M
$2.4M
$1.7M
$1.5M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 14% · 2021 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

11% of The Miss America Foundation Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (95% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 8,549 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1k
’17
$90k
’18
$192k
’19
−$60k
’20
−$3k
’21
−$241k
’22
−$366k
’23
−$141k
’24
80
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

Majken Mechling

CEO

Board chair

Joel Ballesteros

Chairman

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed8981013121111
Joined·+7+2+4+6+3+2+0
No longer listed·6323430
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $11k → $10k.

5 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 Miss America Foundation Inc’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 Miss America Foundation Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% 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

33% 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 Miss America Foundation Inc.

63%
largest funder
86%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 55% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 86% · 2022 99% · 2023 98% — 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

50% of The Miss America Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 20% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

95% of The Miss America Foundation Inc's grant income comes from New Jersey funders.

NY
NJ
HI
TX

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $83k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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 Miss America Foundation Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 7,183 philanthropy nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−172% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve80.4mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−23% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,183 philanthropy nonprofits under $100k, FY2024

Organizations like The Miss America Foundation Inc

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 New Jersey

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

56% of spending goes to programs.

Program 56%Management 40%Fundraising 4%

Governance

11
board members
0%
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 Miss America Foundation Inc: 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 Miss America Foundation Inc?
The Miss America Foundation Inc (New Jersey) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $309,113 to it, the largest being Allman Medical Scholarship Foundation ($196,106). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does The Miss America Foundation Inc have?
IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $309,113 in grants to The Miss America Foundation Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of The Miss America Foundation Inc?
Allman Medical Scholarship Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $196,106 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like The Miss America Foundation Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. 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 Miss America →

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 10 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