California · Nonprofit
THINKING NATION CORP
THINKING NATION CORP (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,415,000 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($2,505,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $3.4M
- Net assets
- $554k
What Thinking Nation Corp does
Mission
Thinking nation is dedicated to cultivating a thinking citizenry by empowering middle and high school students with the skills to think historically and engage civically. We partner with schools and districts across the united states to provide a supplemental social studies curriculum, professional development for educators, and ai-powered assessments that give students immediate, standards-aligned feedback on their writing.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Providing document-based curriculum that allows students to practice interdisciplinary reading, writing, and analysis skills necessary for success in all subjects. Our curriculum can be administered online or in pdf format allowing for both virtual and classroom instruction. Teachers are given critical time back when utilizing grading services provided by our expert graders. Thinking nation delivered over 200 hours of teacher-centered professional learning and empowered over 35,000 students in thinking nation classrooms.
$1,304,937 spent$519,303 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,304,937.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 2022 to 2023, from $528k to $674k (+28%).
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.
64% of THINKING NATION CORP’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. 3 of the last 5 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
Zachary Cote
Executive director
Board chair
Dinah Ruch
Board president
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $360k → $700k.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 THINKING NATION CORP’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
THINKING NATION CORP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 73% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
73% 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 THINKING NATION CORP.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2022 55% · 2023 79% — 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.
Where its funders are
73% of THINKING NATION CORP's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $910k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
THINKING NATION CORP has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THINKING NATION CORP
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THINKING NATION CORP: 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 THINKING NATION CORP?
- THINKING NATION CORP (California) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,415,000 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($2,505,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THINKING NATION CORP have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $3,415,000 in grants to THINKING NATION CORP, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THINKING NATION CORP?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,505,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THINKING NATION CORP 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.
Play a game about who funds Thinking Nation →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 2 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