Virginia · Nonprofit
UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA
UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA (Virginia) receives grants from 94 organizations whose IRS filings report $77,397,130 to it, the largest being GIVE BACK FOUNDATION ($40,461,960). 53 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 95% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $19M
- Funders on record
- 94
- Grants received
- $77M
- Net assets
- $34M
What United Way of the National Capital Area does
Mission
United way nca improves the lives of underserved individuals in the national capital area by focusing community resources on creating measurable and lasting impact. When none are ignored, all will thrive. ...continued on schedule o.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Nonprofit capacity building: united way nca's primary source of revenue is generated through employer-sponsored workplace giving campaigns. In addition, united way nca conducts a variety of fundraising initiatives throughout the year, with a focus on growing and diversifying funding sources to support its community impact work and operations. For nearly 100 years, companies, foundations, public entities, and individual donors have recognized united way nca as the preeminent nonprofit for donating to the causes they care about. The millions of dollars raised by united way nca each year are invested in the most effective programs and services to tackle the most complex social challenges, critical areas of needs and issues in our region.
$12,484,960 spentof which $10,355,244 as grants$793,515 earned by the program82% of program spendingHealth and education:united way nca's thrive united 365 health program improves access to the distribution of health resources and improves people's lives by addressing health conditions most affecting its communities. Adopting a community-based public health intervention model, the program supports prevention and care management strategies to create low-barrier health resource access points for communities facing enduring health disparities. This place-based work includes improved access to chronic disease prevention and management and mental health resources....continued on schedule o.in 2024-25, united way nca and partner organizations engaged more than 2,200 people in health education to learn more about the risks of chronic health conditions and receive tests to assess their health needs. The program also built and distributed 9,148 kits containing food, clothing, and hygiene supplies .united way nca's education initiatives provide high-quality resources through the community school model to support students and young adults in realizing their academic and training goals. United way nca partners with seven community schools designated as title I schools. Title I schools…
$1,380,390 spentof which $1,077,755 as grants9% of program spendingUnited way nca's economic opportunity initiatives provide information, resources, and services to end debt and increase generational wealth in under-resourced communities. Since 2015, united way nca has operated the region's first group of financial empowerment centers (fecs) to promote economic opportunity. Today, united way nca's five fecs offer individuals, veterans, and working families no-cost, professional high-quality financial capacity building services, such as personalized financial coaching and housing counseling. Fec programs include financial and workforce training, individual and small group coaching, tax preparation services and wealth building work. ...continued on schedule o.in 2025 - 5,447 residents received a variety of financial coaching services ranging from free tax preparation, financial workshops, and housing counseling that are aimed at helping our region's residents get on the pathway to a stronger financial future; 550 individuals benefited from its volunteer income tax assistance (vita) and the earned income tax credit (eitc) program. Through its free tax preparation services, united way nca resulted in $1.1m in tax refunds and credits allowing area…
$1,281,689 spentof which $1,104,601 as grants8% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,147,039.
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 2020 to 2021, from $35M to $56M (+61%).
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: 2017 9% · 2018 15% · 2019 3% · 2020 5% · 2021 2% · 2022 4% · 2023 16% · 2024 14% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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
Rosie Allen-Herring
President & CEO
Board chair
Gary Tabach
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 28 funders to 26 funders, grant income fell $8.2M → $5.8M.
24 of 94 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 95% 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: $5.8M from 21 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Washington Community Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 94 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
UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 94% · 2019 87% · 2020 75% · 2021 74% · 2022 83% · 2023 80% — 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
35% of UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
95% of UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA'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 $3.7M that is directly attributable, 84% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 24 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $74M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA's revenue fell 42% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA: 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 UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA?
- UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA (Virginia) receives grants from 94 organizations whose IRS filings report $77,397,130 to it, the largest being GIVE BACK FOUNDATION ($40,461,960). 53 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 95% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA have?
- IRS filings report 94 organizations giving $77,397,130 in grants to UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA, 53 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA?
- GIVE BACK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $40,461,960 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 94 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