Grantmakers › New York

America Achieves Inc

New York, NY · EIN 27-3238471. Reported 64 grants totalling $25.3M to 56 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

56organizations funded
$250,000median reported grant
$25.3Mgranted, 2020-2024
22%of grantees funded again the next year
34%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For America Achieves Inc, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B90) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 56 distinct organizations, with 34% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 22% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $250,000. Half of what it reported fell between $50,000 and $400,000; the smallest was $20,000 and the largest $8,651,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$10,000 - $25,000
1 grant
$25,000 - $50,000
7 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
14 grants
$100,000 - $250,000
8 grants
$250,000 Or More
34 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
University of ChicagoChicago, IL$8,651,000112021
Brown University of ProvidenceProvidence, RI$1,650,000222021
Southern Education Foundation IncAtlanta, GA$1,400,000222022
President and Fellows of Harvard CollegeCambridge, MA$805,669112022
Deans for ImpactAustin, TX$750,000112021
Amira Learning IncSan Francisco, CA$739,240112022
COMMIT2DALLASDallas, TX$710,000332022
Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming EducationNashville, TN$700,000112022
Guilford County Board of EdGreensboro, NC$602,702112021
Cambiar EducationSan Diego, CA$500,000112022
New Schools for New Orleans IncNew Orleans, LA$500,000112022
Saga InnovationsNewton, MA$500,000112021
Teach for America IncNew York, NY$500,000112022
ZearnClaymont, DE$500,000112022
Oakland ReachOakland, CA$350,000112022
Brookings InstitutionWashington, DC$325,000222024
Scholarship America IncMinneapolis, MN$310,801112020
Black Hills Special Services CooperativeRapid City, SD$300,225112022
Great Oaks FoundationMemphis, TN$276,357112021
Try Once IncCovina, CA$251,475112022
Air TutorsStockton, CA$250,000112022
AmplifyBrooklyn, NY$250,000112022
Assistments Foundation IncWorcester, MA$250,000112021
Child Poverty Action LabDallas, TX$250,000112024
Ignite Reading PbcSan Francisco, CA$250,000112022
Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD$250,000112022
Jump Math IncCedar Rapids, IA$250,000112022
New Wisconsin Org IncRacine, WI$250,000112024
Reading PartnersOakland, CA$250,000112022
Rhode Island Department of EducationProvidence, RI$250,000112022
San Francisco Education FundSan Francisco, CA$250,000112021
Trilogy Mentors IncRichmond, VA$250,000112021
Commonwealth Center for Advanced ManufacturingDisputanta, VA$240,000222024
Accelerate MontanaMissoula, MT$230,000222024
Scholarmatch IncSan Francisco, CA$220,826112020
Arlington Independent SchoolArlington, TX$138,600222021
Gec USA LLCBrooklyn, NY$125,000112022
Backfield in Motion IncNashville, TN$100,000112022
The Rhode Island Community FoundationProvidence, RI$100,000112020
United Way of Racine County IncRacine, WI$80,000112024
New Visions for Public Schools IncNew York, NY$66,280112021
Aff FoundationArlington, VA$50,000112022
Bioforward IncMadison, WI$50,000112024
Centerstate Corporation for Economic OpportunitySyracuse, NY$50,000112024
Coalfield Development CorporationHuntington, WV$50,000112024
Miami-Dade CountyMiami, FL$50,000112024
Minneapolis - St Paul Regional Economic Development PartnershipSaint Paul, MN$50,000112024
National Center for Defense Manufacturing and MachiningJohnstown, PA$50,000112024
Rodel Charitable Foundation DeWilmington, DE$50,000112024
Southeast Michigan Grants CoalitionDetroit, MI$50,000112024
The Greater New Orleans FoundationNew Orleans, LA$50,000112024
Detroit Regional Partnership FoundationDetroit, MI$40,000112023
Economic Development Corporation of Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA$40,000112023
Research Foundation for the State University of New YorkAlbany, NY$40,000112023
The University of Texas at El PasoEl Paso, TX$40,000112023
Nc A&t State UniversityGreensboro, NC$20,000112023

7 of 56 (12%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

It also reported 4 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 39 of 56 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Education
21 orgs
Community Improvement
5 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 orgs
Science & Technology
2 orgs
Social Science
1 org
Human Services
1 org
Recreation & Sports
1 org
International Affairs
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
20207$1,499,627$100,000
202113$14.2M$460,000
202222$7,721,609$250,737
20237$250,000$40,000
202415$1,680,000$50,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

34% of its giving went to organizations in Illinois. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

Illinois
$8.7M
California
$3.1M
Rhode Island
$2.0M
Texas
$1.9M
Massachusetts
$1.6M
Georgia
$1.4M
Tennessee
$1.1M
New York
$1.0M

Down to the city

Chicago, IL
$8.7M
Providence, RI
$2.0M
San Francisco, CA
$1.5M
Atlanta, GA
$1.4M
Dallas, TX
$960K
Cambridge, MA
$806K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund23 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc22 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc17 shared recipientsAccelerate - the National Collaborative17 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program15 shared recipientsGates Foundation14 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $250,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Illinois.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in IllinoisEvery funder in this groupFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from America Achieves Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 15 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 244 Fifth Avenue F71, New York, NY, 10001.

EIN 27-3238471 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.