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Colorado · Nonprofit

University Schools

University Schools (Colorado) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $515,165 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($346,380). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$3.1M
Funders on record
11
Grants received
$515k
Net assets
$930k
4/11 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 1%
01What it does

What University Schools does

Mission

To ignite a passion for Jesus in students through experiences in worship, academics, missions, leadership and adventure.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Academic Program: Our first priority is to help young people, K4-12th grades, grow in the Christian faith. To accomplish this goal, we partner with our parents in the education process. Parents and students follow teacher provided lesson plans for Monday and Friday at home days. Tuesday through Thursday are at school days. Our elementary program for K4-5th focuses on the core academics. We offer a full course of study including Math, Science, Social Studies, PE, Language Arts, and Fine Arts. The secondary program consists of Junior High (6th-8th grade) and High School (9th-12th grade). In addition to the core academics, these students take Foreign Language, Computer Science, Adventure, and electives. We offer dual credit and online learning opportunities through online partner schools. USCO also offers honors.

    $1,262,464 spent$1,405,957 earned by the program
    99% of program spending
  2. Adventure Program: The Adventure Program is designed to teach students multiple outdoor disciplines and leadership skills that can be carried throughout life. Our vision is to cultivate lifelong servant leaders,united as a team to become more like Christ and strive to build skills that empower students to live adventurously in Gods creation. Along with classroom lectures, students spend ample time outdoors putting their skills to practice both locally and out of state. We teach canyoneering, mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing, backpacking, sailing and wilderness medicine.

    $13,186 spent$46,550 earned by the program
    1% of program spending
  3. Theater Program: The theater program trains students to use talents in acting and singing to build confidence and performance experience. Students are encouraged to use their God-given gifts to bless audiences. The skills they learn equip them to communicate effectively and confidently. They also learn all aspects of theater production: auditions, singing, dancing, acting, set design and creation, technical skills, strong work ethics, and public performance. This variety of experiences prepare students to advance into post-High School endeavors.

    $3,412 spent$9,250 earned by the program
    0% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,279,062.

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 ($1.5M) Expenses 100 ($1.5M) Net assets 100 ($179k)2018 Revenue 115 ($1.7M) Expenses 115 ($1.7M) Net assets 111 ($199k)2019 Revenue 129 ($1.9M) Expenses 129 ($1.9M) Net assets 135 ($242k)2020 Revenue 107 ($1.6M) Expenses 122 ($1.8M) Net assets 109 ($196k)2021 Revenue 94 ($1.4M) Expenses 111 ($1.6M) Net assets 196 ($351k)2022 Revenue 95 ($1.4M) Expenses 102 ($1.5M) Net assets 149 ($267k)2023 Revenue 95 ($1.4M) Expenses 102 ($1.5M) Net assets 149 ($267k)2024 Revenue 115 ($1.7M) Expenses 120 ($1.8M) Net assets 144 ($259k)2025 Revenue 206 ($3.1M) Expenses 156 ($2.3M) Net assets 518 ($930k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (206)Expenses (156)Net assets (518)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 2024 to 2025, from $352k to $1.0M (+196%).

$241k
$297k
$325k
$452k
$370k
$280k
$280k
$352k
$1.0M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

46% of University Schools’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,352 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$32k
’17
$46k
’18
$33k
’19
−$183k
’20
−$219k
’21
−$77k
’22
−$77k
’23
−$33k
’24
$791k
’25
3.6
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.

Board chair

Nathan Salsbery

Chair of the Board

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed151715147141488
Joined·+4+1+1+4+7+0+1+2
No longer listed·232110072
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $6k → $2k.

6 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 96% 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 University Schools’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

University Schools leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 93%; 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 University Schools.

67%
largest funder
93%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2019 100% · 2020 98% · 2021 88% · 2022 85% · 2023 90% — broadly stable.

“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

40% of University Schools's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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

96% of University Schools'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 $18k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from funders outside Colorado, across 4 states.

OH
CO
DE
FL

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

’17
’19
’21
’22
’23
Colorado out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $497k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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

University Schools runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin26% · top quartile
Months of reserve3.6mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)9% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like University Schools

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 Colorado

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 44%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for University Schools: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 University Schools?
University Schools (Colorado) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $515,165 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($346,380). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does University Schools have?
IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $515,165 in grants to University Schools, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of University Schools?
NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $346,380 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like University Schools find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 University Schools →

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 11 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