Arizona · Nonprofit
WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING
WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING (Arizona) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,804 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($9,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $10k
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Waters Center for Systems Thinking does
Mission
Our mission is to help people develop as systems thinkers. We aim to increase the number of schools, districts and organizations that are actively incorporating systems thinking into teaching, leading and learning. Although systems thinking is rooted in complex theory and analytics, we make systems thinking concepts easy to understand and applicable to real-world settings and challenges. We are dedicated to increasing the capacity of educators, as well as community and business leaders to deliver lifetime benefits to others through the effective application of systems thinking. From the classroom to the boardroom, our aim is to ensure that all children and adults have the opportunity to develop their systems thinking capacities so they can become successful in school, work and life.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The wcst uses a set of habits, concepts and tools to make systems thinking accessible to everyone. This instructional toolbox is the foundation of our approach to helping people become systems thinkers. Wcst has worked with people from around the world, with methods that effectively benefit and support people from diverse cultures, age groups and work places. Our offerings include: -coaching and support structures for adopting and implementing systems thinking into organizations, schools, and communities; -a range of systems thinking professional development options from introductory to advanced -customized systems thinking integration plans created for specific desired outcomes; -multi-day learning events, systems thinking training, institutes, and forums offered both virtually and in person. -an online learning platform, the thinking tools studio, with a wide array of offerings including courses on the habits, tools, and archetypes, resources, templates, lesson plans, and facilitation guides.
$1,147,574 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,147,574.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2023 to 2024, from $463k to $1.6M (+255%).
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.
73% of WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 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
Tracy Benson
CEO and pres
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $600 → $77.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 94% 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 WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING’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
WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 92% 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
94% 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 WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
94% of WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING'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 $600 that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Arizona, across 1 state.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22k on record — $16k federal, $7k state.
- Department of State$16k
- OR$4k
- CT$3k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
100% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING: 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 WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING?
- WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING (Arizona) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,804 to it, the largest being ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ($9,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 94% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $9,804 in grants to WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING?
- ST LOUIS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $9,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATERS CENTER FOR SYSTEMS THINKING 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.
Play a game about who funds Waters Center for Systems Thinking →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 3 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