Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION
THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,608,050 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.8M
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $54M
What The Nea Foundation for the Improvement of Education does
Mission
The nea foundation (the foundation), works in partnership with others to advance the absolute best in public education.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community schools initiative - the foundation's community schools initiative supports the development of community schools as an educational strategy in the american south, a region with persistent patterns of underinvestment in public education and the highest child poverty rate in the nation. Community schools are co-created through partnerships among educators and school leaders, community organizations, students, families, and local business and institutions to meet students' academic and non-academic needs. Through its initiative, the foundation has built a regional community of practice to support the development of community schools across arkansas, louisiana and mississippi.
$1,197,475 spentof which $1,004,422 as grants22% of program spendingGrants to educators - to improve student learning, the foundation provides grants to individuals and teams of educators to support instructional practice and professional development across all subject areas and grade levels. By directly funding educator-conceived and led projects, the foundation enables educators to chart their own course to solve teaching and learning challenges. The foundation gleans knowledge from these grants to share what works with the field and to inform our broader body of work.
$825,143 spentof which $767,051 as grants15% of program spendingAwards for teaching excellence - the foundation presents the awards for teaching excellence at our annual gala to honor the critical work that public school educators do every day. In 2025, we celebrated 48 exemplary educators, all from different states, in front of an audience of thousands of people online.
$646,260 spentof which $90,000 as grants12% of program spendingProgram administration
$2,016,685 spent37% of program spendingGlobal learning fellowship
$376,140 spent7% of program spendingResponsive grantmaking
$166,000 spentof which $166,000 as grants3% of program spendingPartnerships
$217,000 spentof which $217,000 as grants4% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,444,703.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $54M to $46M (−15%).
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.
70% of THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (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.
Chief executive
Sara Sneed
President & CEO
Board chair
Nick Archuleta
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $55k → $223k.
9 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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: $15M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest National Education Association of the United States). These are real filings, and they are not money THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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 NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 38% 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
26% 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 NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 52% · 2019 54% · 2020 53% · 2021 84% · 2022 28% · 2023 45% — 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
36% of THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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 NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 13 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $479k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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 NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION's funding base is broadening — from 6 funders to 10 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION: 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 NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION?
- THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,608,050 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $2,608,050 in grants to THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION?
- THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE NEA FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATION 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 FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 32 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing