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Washington · Nonprofit

Zeno

Zeno (Washington) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,650,601 to it, the largest being KEN BIRDWELL FOUNDATION (DBA MAGIC CABINET) C/O CLARK NUBER PS ($839,152). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$756k
Funders on record
43
Grants received
$3.7M
Net assets
$478k
27/43 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 68%
01What it does

What Zeno does

Mission

Zeno's mission is to spark joy and inspire a love of math in young children and families through racial equity, family engagement, and play, all centered in the experiences of communities of color.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Zeno has an established track record of working in a educational spaces where racial equity is THE key lever for change. We start with honoring the agency, dignity, and inherent strengths of Black Indigenous, and communities of color. By work to ensure that race is not a factor in the acquisition of math skills and the development of loving to learn.Zeno develops a love of math between and among very young children (3-5y/o), families, and early childhood providers through play and family engagement. Our work amplifies math learning and identity across race, place, linguistic, and culturally specific identities and development. We do this by:Starting EarlyMath at the highest levels of academic pursuit is more than computation. Its a language and a way of thinking, and just like language its easiest to acquire while young. Including FamiliesWe believe that parenting adults are a childs first and most influential teacher, and we know that culturally responsive engagement with families is critical when you are working with families from diverse communities.Working with PartnersZeno honors community experiences and works closely with partners that have long-standing community…

    $597,410 spent$141,148 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $597,410.

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 ($958k) Expenses 100 ($1.1M) Net assets 100 ($745k)2018 Revenue 125 ($1.2M) Expenses 116 ($1.3M) Net assets 89 ($663k)2019 Revenue 162 ($1.5M) Expenses 148 ($1.7M) Net assets 75 ($561k)2020 Revenue 165 ($1.6M) Expenses 142 ($1.6M) Net assets 75 ($561k)2021 Revenue 154 ($1.5M) Expenses 130 ($1.4M) Net assets 79 ($590k)2022 Revenue 163 ($1.6M) Expenses 134 ($1.5M) Net assets 90 ($667k)2023 Revenue 106 ($1.0M) Expenses 101 ($1.1M) Net assets 74 ($554k)2024 Revenue 102 ($976k) Expenses 90 ($1000k) Net assets 71 ($530k)2025 Revenue 79 ($756k) Expenses 72 ($803k) Net assets 64 ($478k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (79)Expenses (72)Net assets (64)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 $808k to $599k (−26%).

$814k
$674k
$646k
$808k
$599k
$691k
$566k
$583k
$485k
'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: 2020 11% · 2021 12% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

83% of Zeno’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$156k
’17
−$93k
’18
−$102k
’19
−$107
’20
$29k
’21
$77k
’22
−$113k
’23
−$24k
’24
−$47k
’25
2.3
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

Belinda Smith

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed141316131215151310
Joined·+0+6+3+1+4+1+2+2
No longer listed·13621145
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $175k → $695k.

11 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 Zeno’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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

Zeno has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left

38% 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 Zeno.

23%
largest funder
42%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 15% · 2018 24% · 2019 25% · 2020 27% · 2021 35% · 2022 18% · 2023 26% — growing more concentrated.

“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

62% of Zeno's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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

96% of Zeno's grant income comes from Washington funders.

WA
NY
DE
NC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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

Zeno's funding base is broadening — from 11 funders to 21 as grant income climbed.

Operating margin−6% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve2.3mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like Zeno

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

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

74% of spending goes to programs.

Program 74%Management 11%Fundraising 15%

Governance

7
board members
86%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

41%

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 Zeno: 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 Zeno?
Zeno (Washington) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,650,601 to it, the largest being KEN BIRDWELL FOUNDATION (DBA MAGIC CABINET) C/O CLARK NUBER PS ($839,152). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Zeno have?
IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $3,650,601 in grants to Zeno, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Zeno?
KEN BIRDWELL FOUNDATION (DBA MAGIC CABINET) C/O CLARK NUBER PS is the largest funder on record, with $839,152 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Zeno find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 Zeno →

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 43 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