Skip to content

California · Nonprofit

Urban Scholar Academy

Urban Scholar Academy (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $449,760 to it, the largest being THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ($119,700). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$463k
Funders on record
13
Grants received
$450k
Net assets
$420k
4/13 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 23%
01What it does

What Urban Scholar Academy does

Mission

Urban Scholar Academy www.urbanscholaracademy.org is a multi award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of urban k-12th grade youth through academic enrichment. Homework Club, Tutoring, Seasonal Camps & Film Academy

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. During the 20242025 school year, the organization served 122 unduplicated students through its Homework Club, Tutoring, Film Academy, and College Readiness Academy programs. Students in the Homework Club demonstrated significant academic progress, achieving 92% growth in math and 155% growth in reading, while Tutoring participants achieved 144% growth in reading and 89% growth in math. The Film Academy engaged students in a hands-on filmmaking experience supported by 55 professional cast and crew members during production of a summer proof-of-concept film. Overall, participants experienced a 70% increase in hands-on film production experience. Additionally, 74% of participants reported that the program influenced their decision to pursue film or television studies after high school. Through the College Readiness Program, 100% of graduating seniors were accepted into college, earning admission to more than 31 institutions and securing over $100,000 in scholarships.

    $463,524 spentof which $188,645 as grants$442,363 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $463,524.

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 ($148k) Expenses 100 ($138k) Net assets 100 ($57k)2020 Revenue 186 ($276k) Expenses 177 ($245k) Net assets 202 ($115k)2021 Revenue 305 ($452k) Expenses 243 ($335k) Net assets 489 ($280k)2022 Revenue 297 ($440k) Expenses 246 ($340k) Net assets 664 ($380k)2023 Revenue 267 ($395k) Expenses 267 ($368k) Net assets 511 ($293k)2024 Revenue 364 ($539k) Expenses 300 ($415k) Net assets 727 ($417k)2025 Revenue 312 ($463k) Expenses 336 ($464k) Net assets 732 ($420k)
2017202020212022202320242025
Revenue (312)Expenses (336)Net assets (732)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 2020 to 2021, from $268k to $436k (+63%).

$60k
$268k
$436k
$498k
$411k
$531k
$547k
2017202020212022202320242025
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
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 27% · 2022 26% · 2023 21%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

42% of Urban Scholar Academy’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (83% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 6,418 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

$10k
’17
$31k
’20
$116k
’21
$100k
’22
$27k
’23
$124k
’24
−$959
’25
7.1
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.

2017202020212022202320242025
Listed1222665
Joined·····+1+0
No longer listed·····11
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $7k → $89k.

3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 Urban Scholar Academy’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

Urban Scholar Academy has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% 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

55% 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 Urban Scholar Academy.

27%
largest funder
59%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2021 50% · 2022 36% · 2023 72% — 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

25% of Urban Scholar Academy's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 31% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y

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

87% of Urban Scholar Academy's grant income comes from California funders.

PA
CA

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

’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $138k 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

Against its field

Urban Scholar Academy is better cushioned than half of the 3,734 youth development nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−0% · below the median
Months of reserve7.1mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)15% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,734 youth development nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Urban Scholar Academy

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

100% of spending goes to programs.

Program 100%Management 0%Fundraising 0%

Governance

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

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Urban Scholar Academy: 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 Urban Scholar Academy?
Urban Scholar Academy (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $449,760 to it, the largest being THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION ($119,700). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Urban Scholar Academy have?
IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $449,760 in grants to Urban Scholar Academy, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Urban Scholar Academy?
THE AHMANSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $119,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Urban Scholar Academy 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 Urban Scholar Academy →

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 13 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