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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

Youth Service America

Youth Service America (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,561,535 to it, the largest being CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION ($2,475,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$2.4M
Funders on record
44
Grants received
$6.6M
Net assets
$223k
15/44 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 76%
01What it does

What Youth Service America does

Mission

Youth Service America is on a mission to make working together for the common good the common expectation and common experience of every young person in America. YSA activates young people ages 5-25 to find their voice take action and acquire powerful civic and 21st Century skills as they solve problems facing their communities. YSA supports its activation campaigns with grants training and resources and recognition programs for young people and their adult champions. Youth-led projects use Awareness Service Advocacy and Philanthropy ASAP strategies to create social and environmental change.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. YSA is the fiscal host for Guides.vote. Guides.vote produces nonpartisan voters guides that show where candidates stand. Theyre produced by veteran journalists with links to credible sources.

    $1,964,332 spent$734 earned by the program
    63% of program spending
  2. YSA awarded 415 grants of $100 - $25,000 to schools and nonprofit organizations through several grant programs to support youth-led service and service-learning activities.

    $672,373 spentof which $517,133 as grants$8,609 earned by the program
    22% of program spending
  3. YSA activated 133,403 youth as volunteers in thousands of community projects through our campaigns including 9 11 Day of Service Election Day ServiceVote MLK Day of Service and Global Youth Service Day.

    $333,900 spent
    11% of program spending
  4. 50% Youth Participation by America250 50by250 is focused on increasing youth ages 5-25 participation rates in volunteering and service voting and civic engagement and joining and leadership to at least 50% by Americas Semiquincentennial on July 4 2026. The primary activity in FY25 was developing a state-based Youth Service Alliance strategy and beginning to plan for a national listening tour to support a new national strategic planning effort.

    $79,097 spent
    3% of program spending
  5. YSA provides online resources and trainings to our partners grantees and the general public. Tens of thousands of people accessed resource and training content on YSA.org in FY25.

    $65,821 spent
    2% of program spending

The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,115,523.

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 ($1.7M) Expenses 100 ($2.0M) Net assets 100 ($125k)2018 Revenue 108 ($1.8M) Expenses 103 ($2.0M) Net assets 64 ($80k)2019 Revenue 72 ($1.2M) Expenses 73 ($1.4M) Net assets 40 ($50k)2020 Revenue 50 ($822k) Expenses 43 ($849k) Net assets 46 ($57k)2021 Revenue 66 ($1.1M) Expenses 52 ($1.0M) Net assets 142 ($178k)2022 Revenue 94 ($1.6M) Expenses 68 ($1.3M) Net assets 100 ($125k)2023 Revenue 123 ($2.0M) Expenses 104 ($2.0M) Net assets 119 ($149k)2024 Revenue 175 ($2.9M) Expenses 86 ($1.7M) Net assets 158 ($197k)2025 Revenue 142 ($2.4M) Expenses 166 ($3.3M) Net assets 178 ($223k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (142)Expenses (166)Net assets (178)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 2023 to 2024, from $556k to $1.8M (+217%).

$943k
$821k
$569k
$649k
$348k
$554k
$556k
$1.8M
$861k
'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

Government-grant reliance: 2017 13% · 2018 13% · 2019 22% · 2020 32% · 2021 39% · 2022 27% · 2023 23% · 2024 12% · 2025 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

95% of Youth Service America’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,035 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$322k
’17
−$250k
’18
−$245k
’19
−$27k
’20
$65k
’21
$210k
’22
−$7k
’23
$1.2M
’24
−$920k
’25
2.6
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.

Chief executive

Steven Culbertson

President CEO

Board chair

Michael Nelson

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed171414121310121122
Joined·+2+0+0+1+0+2+0+11
No longer listed·50203010
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $353k → $1.3M.

20 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Youth Service America’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 44 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

Youth Service America leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.

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

38%
largest funder
66%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 85% · 2018 100% · 2019 70% · 2020 92% · 2021 52% · 2022 45% · 2023 47% — 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

29% of Youth Service America's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 34% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

Youth Service America draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 11 states in all.

WA
IL
MI
NY
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
DE
FL

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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

Youth Service America's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 17 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−39% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.6mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)5% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,064 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Government funding Youth Service America receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.6M on record.

Federal$3.6M
grants $3.6Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Top agencies
  • Corporation for National and Community Service$3.6M

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 Youth Service America

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 Washington, D.C.

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

95% of spending goes to programs.

Program 95%Management 3%Fundraising 2%

Governance

12
board members
92%
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

DC

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Youth Service America: 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 Youth Service America?
Youth Service America (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,561,535 to it, the largest being CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION ($2,475,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Youth Service America have?
IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $6,561,535 in grants to Youth Service America, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Youth Service America?
CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,475,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Youth Service America find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 44 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