AZFirst
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 841635446
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chandler, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 4807927200
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $246,519
- Expenses
- $417,652
- Assets
- $34,817
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- RICHARD SIMONCIC (President Director)
- J ERIC BJORNHOLT (Vice President Treas)
Highest reported compensation
- RICHARD SIMONCIC (President Director): $3,454,439 total reported compensation
- J ERIC BJORNHOLT (Vice President Treas): $1,879,083 total reported compensation
- ALAN DAVIS (Secretary): $259,124 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
AZFirst's mission is to carry out charitable work in the community with a strong emphasis in inspiring young students in an appreciation of science and technology.
What it reported doing in 2024
AZFirsts primary purpose is to expand access to high quality STEM education, primarily through FIRST Robotics programs, across Arizona. In 2025, AZFirst served approximately 8,000 K-12 students, 1,500 volunteers, and 350 teams through statewide robotics competitions, team support services, and experiential engineering programs that emphasize hands-on learning, collaboration, and workforce-ready skills. During the year, AZFirst staff and volunteers helped plan, produce, and operate more than 30 official and off-season robotics events, including FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), FIRST LEGO League (FLL), and underwater robotics competitions.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 57
- Sustainability: 13
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 57.1%; rating input score 57; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -69.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: Limited
Growth
- Program expense growth: 31.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -41.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $418K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $3.5M · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 14 of 14 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 57/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.