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Arizona · Nonprofit

UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (Arizona) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,797,303 to it, the largest being VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY ($703,414). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$1.5M
Funders on record
25
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$0
15/25 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 15%
01What it does

What Upward for Children and Families does

Mission

Helping children with special needs meet their highest potential while empowering their families to thrive.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Provide inclusive childcare programs for children with special needs as well as children that are age appropriate. Our childcare program features a very low child to teacher ratio, on-site nursing care, care for children with severe disabilities in an integrated setting, and pediatric therapy for those who qualify.

    $3,628,892 spentof which $2,914,721 as grants$715,213 earned by the program
    92% of program spending
  2. Provide children with special education needs the best environment in the greater phoenix metropolitan area with low student-teacher ratios, highly qualified special education teachers, and a full-time medical staff.

    $318,675 spent$232,015 earned by the program
    8% of program spending
  3. In february 2024 the organization leased its therapy building to a private company, just for kids therapy. This allows our students to receive appropriate services as well as provide a source for student referrals to upward.

    $159,681 earned by the program

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,947,567.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($2.2M) Expenses 100 ($2.4M) Net assets 100 ($4.5M)2021 Revenue 79 ($1.8M) Expenses 83 ($2.0M) Net assets 95 ($4.2M)2022 Revenue 78 ($1.7M) Expenses 89 ($2.1M) Net assets 86 ($3.8M)2023 Revenue 70 ($1.6M) Expenses 88 ($2.1M) Net assets 74 ($3.3M)2024 Revenue 84 ($1.9M) Expenses 85 ($2.1M) Net assets 70 ($3.1M)2025 Revenue 67 ($1.5M) Expenses 191 ($4.6M) Net assets 0 ($0)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (67)Expenses (191)Net assets (0)

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 $4.0M to $0 (−100%).

$5.1M
$4.9M
$4.5M
$4.4M
$4.0M
$0
202020212022202320242025
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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 14% · 2021 22% · 2022 10% · 2023 10% · 2024 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

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

−$174k
’20
−$219k
’21
−$396k
’22
−$554k
’23
−$172k
’24
−$3.1M
’25
0.2
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.

202020212022202320242025
Listed978998
Joined·+1+1+1+5+3
No longer listed·30054
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $164k → $225k.

3 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% 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 UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES’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

UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

79% 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 UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.

39%
largest funder
63%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 58% · 2019 38% · 2020 71% · 2021 54% · 2022 55% · 2023 27% — 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

50% of UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

93% of UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES's grant income comes from Arizona funders.

WA
IL
WI
NY
VA
MD
AZ

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $306k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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

Organizations like UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

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 Arizona

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 14%Fundraising 1%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

79%

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 UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: 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 UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES?
UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (Arizona) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,797,303 to it, the largest being VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY ($703,414). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES have?
IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $1,797,303 in grants to UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES?
VALLEY OF THE SUN UNITED WAY is the largest funder on record, with $703,414 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like UPWARD FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 2020–2025), and the filings of 25 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