City Year

City Year is an education organization that places young adult volunteers in public schools and grants its staff student loans. It operates as an AmeriCorps program and receives most of its funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and AmeriCorps in the form of federal grants. 1 City Year has operations in 28 U.S. cities, England and South Africa. 2

At-A-Glance

Issue Areas: Education Policy
Formation:

1988

CEO:

Jim Balfanz

Location: Boston, MA View on map
Tax ID: 22-2882549
Most Recent Filing: 2025
Budget (2025): Assets: $84,679,830 Revenue: $173,086,871 Expenses: $175,579,043

Contents

    Operations

    CNCS, the parent organization to AmeriCorps and City Year funnels money into both using federal funds and federal grants like the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. 3

    Once City Year employees complete a minimum 11-month tenure and leave City Year, they become eligible to apply for a federally funded Segal Education Award through AmeriCorps. 4

    History

    In 1992, then-President Bill Clinton worked with City Year founders Michael Brown and Alan Khazei to create AmeriCorps through the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. 5 In 2001, Clinton organized with former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela a City Year program in Johannesburg, which was founded by 2005. 6 City Year opened three locations in the United Kingdom in 2010, 2013, and 2015.

    In early 2019 the Milwaukee chapter of City Year hosted an annual dinner that was co-hosted by Alex Lasry, who worked in the White House for the Obama administration. 7 8

    Partnerships

    In 2017, City Year partnered with K&L Gates LLP, one of the largest law firms in the U.S. K&L Gates donates to and politically advocates for left-wing organizations. 9 10

    In early 2019, Serve DC missed the deadline to apply for more than $3.5 million in grants for public schools and organizations, which included $2.8 million in compensation for 190 City Year staff in Washington, D.C. Samantha Jo Warfield of the CNCS noted “Whatever their explanation was, not only was it not submitted on time, but it didn’t meet the justification for extenuating circumstances.” 11

    In June 2019, City Year accepted sponsorship from the bank BNY Mellon. 12

    Donor Organizations

    • Adobe Foundation
    • Aramark
    • AT&T
    • Bain Capital
    • Bank of America
    • Celanese Foundation
    • Cicso Foundation
    • Comcast NBCUniversal
    • CSX Transportation
    • Deloitte
    • Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
    • New York Life Foundation
    • Microsoft
    • PepsiCo Foundation
    • Red Nose Day

    Financial Statistics

    Total Assets

    Total Revenue

    Total Expenses

    YearTotal AssetsTotal RevenueTotal ExpensesFiling
    2025 $84,679,830 $173,086,871 $175,579,043 View
    2023 $107,632,955 $168,215,479 $176,337,623 View
    2022 $122,593,381 $184,395,439 $167,972,198 View
    2021 $109,129,886 $166,390,227 $169,554,488 View
    2020 $87,591,346 $166,184,689 $172,132,198 View
    2019 $93,077,918 $172,610,628 $167,025,090 View

    Prior year filings: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

    Revenue Detail

    Expenses Detail

    Employee Compensation

    • Number of Employees: 1061

    Highest Earning Employees

    EmployeeTitleTotal Compensation
    James BalfanzCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER$438,255
    Shanuah BeamonCAO,GEN CONSL,CO-CLK (THRU 6/27/25)$367,646
    John TupponceCHIEF OPERATING OFFICER$343,761
    Mithra RamaleyCHIEF DEV, RECRUIT, & ALUMNI OFFICER$339,293
    Annmaura ConnollyCHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER$338,259
    Kanna KunchalaACTING CFO (THRU 8/1/24),EXEC VP,CSO,COS$335,735
    Stephanie WuCHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER$318,049
    Rume Joy Azikiwe-OyeyemiCHIEF HUMAN RESOURCE OFFICER$292,074
    Stephen SpalossCHIEF ENTERP SOCIAL RESPONSBLTY OFF$276,716
    George ChuCFO (AS OF 8/1/24)$276,660
    Alyson AugustinSVP GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS$262,276
    Ellen GulachenskiCHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER$258,284
    Mary Jane StevensonMARKET PRESIDENT$240,854

    Grant Activity

    All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $580,568,583
    • Number of Grants: 4,492
    • Number of Funders: 1,023

    Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $21,000,0002022 Ballmer GroupCity Year improves student and whole school outcomes through partnering with AmeriCorps and placing young adults to serve as tutors, coaches, and mentors in schools with high needs populations. Its programs address the lack of access to learning environments and resources that students need to thrive in school and in life, due to systemic inequities that disproportionately affect students of color and students growing up in low income households
    $8,530,5002022 Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncEDUCATION
    $7,445,6822020 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $7,370,3002021 Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncCOMMUNITY & HUMAN SERVICES
    $7,234,3502020 Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncCOMMUNITY & HUMAN SERVICES
    $6,541,2502023 Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncEDUCATION
    $6,122,2312023 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $6,056,8502024 Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncEDUCATION
    $5,196,6482022 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $4,390,0592020 Massachusetts Service Alliance IncSub-grant of CNCS federal funding award
    $3,000,0002021 Ballmer GroupCity Year improves student and whole-school outcomes through partnering with Americorps and placing young adults to serve as tutors, coaches, and mentors in schools. Our grant supports City Year Los Angeles to support students to strengthen their academic progress and social emotional growth-especially given the negative effects of interrupted learning caused by the pandemic-so that students have the tools they need to succeed in college, career, and beyond
    $2,650,0002024 The Winston-Salem Foundation2 grant(s) for varying purposes
    $2,518,1852021 Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor grant recipient's exempt purposes
    $2,500,0002022 Santander Bank, N.A. Contributions ProgramSantander Holdings USA announced a $2.5 Million, three-year commitment to its longstanding community partner City Year, an Americorps network member supporting under-resourced public schools in the U.S. This commitment from Santander US includes $1 million of funding for City Year’s Whole School Whole Child program to provide academic tutoring, coaching, afterschool activities and other resources to students in New York, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia and Providence. Santander US—through the Santander Consumer USA Inc. Foundation—also is committing $1.5 Million over three years to support City Year Dallas.
    $2,233,1212022 The Onestar National Service Commission IncAMERICORPS SUB-GRANT
    $2,210,0002021 The Boston FoundationOperating Support/Annual Fund
    $2,136,1202020 Comic Relief Inc.PROGRAM SUPPORT
    $2,000,0002022 The Edgerley Family FoundationSUPPORT-GENERAL FUND
    $1,850,0002022 Comic Relief Inc.PROGRAM SUPPORT
    $1,550,0002023 Comic Relief Inc.PROGRAM SUPPORT
    $1,500,0002024 Gates FoundationK-12 EDUCATION
    $1,497,0322020 Gates Foundationto facilitate an Action Community with a network of middle schools around a shared aim of increasing Black, Latino, and low-income students' resilience and sense of belonging using an evidence-based change package
    $1,325,0002022 The Winston-Salem Foundation1 GRANT(S) FOR VARYING PURPOSES
    $1,300,0002021 Gates Foundationto enhance City Year’s student success coach practices to support impact and scale
    $1,286,5002020 National Philanthropic TrustEducation

    All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:

    • Total Grant Value: $8,437,663
    • Number of Grants: 20
    • Number of Recipients: 6

    Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years:

    AmountYearFunderSubject
    $898,7052023 John Hopkins University N4327bGENERAL SUPPORT
    $718,7022022 Johns Hopkins UniversityGENERAL SUPPORT
    $653,4102021 Johns Hopkins UniversityGENERAL SUPPORT
    $348,1002020 Anonymous Recipient(s)GEN SUPPORT
    $296,3852021 Multiple Sub-Saharan Africa RecipientsGENERAL SUPPORT
    $291,3362020 Johns Hopkins UniversityGENERAL SUPPORT
    $238,1002023 Multiple Sub-Saharan Africa RecipientsGENERAL SUPPORT
    $200,5002020 Multiple North America RecipientsGEN SUPPORT
    $125,0002023 Compass AcademyGENERAL SUPPORT
    $100,0002020 Compass AcademyGENERAL SUPPORT
    $75,0002021 Compass AcademyGENERAL SUPPORT
    $25,0002022 Compass AcademyGENERAL SUPPORT

    References

    1. Staff. “City Year, IAVA Founders Stepping Down.” The Non Profit Times. January 29, 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/people/city-year-iava-founders-stepping-down/
    2. “City Year.” Idealist. 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/c21c5a2e9a774128b435cfde36e099fb-city-year-boston
    3. “Segal AmeriCorps Education Award.” Corporation for National and Community Service. 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/segal-americorps-education-award
    4. “Segal AmeriCorps Education Award.” City Year Alumni. 2018. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://alumni.cityyear.org/page/Ed_Award
    5. “City Year Celebrates 25 Year Legacy with President Bill Clinton.” City Year. May 30, 2014. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.cityyear.org/blog/city-year-celebrates-25-year-legacy-president-bill-clinton
    6. Pfeiffer, Sacha. “Mandela’s Role In Bringing Boston-Based City Year To South Africa.” WBUR News. December 6, 2013. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.wbur.org/news/2013/12/06/nelson-mandela-city-year
    7. Anderson, Lauren. “City Year Milwaukee’s 2019 annual dinner.” Biz Times. May 24, 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019.  https://biztimes.com/city-year-milwaukees-2019-annual-dinner/
    8. “Alex Lasry.” LinkedIn. 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlasry/
    9. “K&L Gates Partners with Nonprofit City Year to Promote Literacy and Support America’s Future Lawyers.” K&L Gates. January 18, 2017. Accessed September 19, 2019. http://www.klgates.com/kl-gates-partners-with-nonprofit-city-year-to-promote-literacy-and-support-americas-future-lawyers-01-18-2017/
    10. “K&L Gates.” The Center for Responsive Politics. 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=D000000766&year=2017
    11. Nirappil, Fenit and Stein, Perry. “D.C. education programs risk losing aid worth millions because city missed deadline.” The Washington Post. April 4, 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-government-forfeits-millions-in-americorps-dollars-after-missing-deadline/2019/04/04/0a8d18e2-5645-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html
    12. “Giving Students a Chance to Code with City Year.” BNY Mellon. June 2019. Accessed September 19, 2019. https://www.bnymellon.com/us/en/who-we-are/global-philanthropy/giving-students-a-chance-to-code-with-city-year.jsp