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Humanities Council of Washington DC at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Community foundation

Humanities Council of Washington DC

To enrich the quality of life, foster intellectual stimulation, and promote cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of local history and culture in all neighborhoods of the district through humanities programs and grants.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
46
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$124k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$4.7MEducation$904kYouth Development$575kPublic Safety & Disaster$289kHousing & Shelter$244kCivil Rights$223kCommunity Improvement$217kHealth$165kOther$0
02FY2025 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 46 grants below total $1,062,384, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,333,851 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $271,467 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $47k
  • $10k–50k38 grants · $841k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $174k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WOMEN IN FILM AND VIDEO$124,000
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DC$50,000
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS' THEATER INC$25,000
SO OTHERS ASCEND RIGHTEOUSLY (SOAR)$25,000
STORY DISTRICT$25,000
EMPOWER DC$25,000
METRO THEATER ARTS INC$25,000
ASIAN AMERICAN LEAD$25,000
THE AMERICAN POETRY MUSEUM$25,000
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FILM INC$25,000
URBAN ADVENTURE SQUAD$25,000
DC ARCHIVES FOUNDATION$25,000
ONE WORLD EDUCATION$25,000
REACH EDUCATION INCORPORATED$25,000
ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE COMMUNITY$25,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $559k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SNCC LEGACY PROJECT INC: $15k → 8%REACH EDUCATION INCORPORATED: $25k → 14%THE GIVELAND FOUNDATION: $8k → 14%YMCA OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON: $30k → 14%YMCA OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON: $25k → 14%URBAN ADVENTURE SQUAD: $25k → 14%ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC: $25k → 14%CENTER FOR NONPROFIT ADVANCEMENT: $35k → 14%CENTER FOR NONPROFIT ADVANCEMENT: $25k → 14%FDR MEMORIAL LEGACY COMMITTEE: $25k → 14%NATIONAL COUNCIL ON INDEPENDENT LIVING: $15k → 14%NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATES CORPORATION: $13k → 14%SNCC LEGACY PROJECT INC: $12k → 14%AYUDA: $6k → 14%ESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC: $25k → 14%CHILDREN OF MINE YOUTH CENTER: $30k → 14%CARE AND PROGRESS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INC: $8k → 14%THE DC CENTER FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY: $25k → 14%THE DC CENTER FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY: $10k → 14%GREATER WASHINGTON URBAN LEAGUE: $10k → 14%STREET SENSE INC: $73k → 14%STREET SENSE INC: $25k → 14%STREET SENSE: $15k → 14%EDGEWOOD-BROOKLAND FAMILY SUPPORT COLLABORATIVE: $10k → 14%ASIAN AMERICAN LEAD: $25k → 14%EDGEWOOD-BROOKLAND FAMILY SUPPORT COLLABORATIVE: $7k → 14%STREET SENSE INC: $12k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.9M · 89 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +38% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.

89 repeat relationships: 32 still active in FY2025, 57 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

89
96

Total granted

$5.9M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+3%

Still filing today

93%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $272k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementCivil RightsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WI
    WOMEN IN FILM & VIDEO INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $343k · revenue +449%
  • HS
    Historical Society of Washington DC dba DC History Center
    5× · 2020–2025 · $254k · revenue +127%
  • OC
    ONE COMMON UNITY
    3× · 2019–2022 · $145k · revenue +18%

Funded once

  • RP
    READING PARTNERS
    one grant, 2022 · $65k · revenue -38%
  • TF
    THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC
    one grant, 2023 · $40k · revenue +21%
  • CW
    COMMUNITY WELLNESS COLLECTIVE
    one grant, 2021 · $35k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Open Dc
Community Improvement
2
Dc Community Development Consortium Institute
Community Improvement
3
Capital Fringe Inc

Capital Fringe was founded in 2005 with a mission to celebrate cultural democracy and access to art and artistic expression for all. By embracing diversity and a spirit of independence, we create earning opportunities for individual…

Arts & Culture
4
Dc Dox

Dc dox is a major international film festival in the nation's capital dedicated to promoting documentary film as a leading art form, championing new voices and innovations in non-fiction storytelling, and using film as a catalyst to engage…

—
5
Ngoma Center for Dance

Ngoma Center for Dance N-Go-mah is a 501c3 whose mission is to cultivate equitable opportunities and creative career pathways through professional training essential performance and entrepreneurship development.

Arts & Culture
6
Theater Alliance of Washington Dc

It is the mission of the Theater Alliance of Washington DC to develop, produce, and present socially conscious, thought-provoking work that fully engages the community in active dialogue.

Arts & Culture
7
The 51st

The 51st is an information source that makes living in the District of Columbia easier, more fun, and more equitable for all residents. We provide news as a public service, educate readers, and build community through engagement events.

Arts & Culture
8
Washington Performing Arts Society

Washington performing arts champions the arts as a unifying force. through collaborations with artists, educators, community leaders, and institutional partners, we bring wide-ranging artistic programs to stages, schools, and neighborhoods…

Arts & Culture
9
Dmv Music Academy

The DMV Music Academy exists to expose, engage, and enrich young people through the transformative power of music.

Arts & Culture
10
The Theatre Lab Inc

The theatre lab provides classes and workshops to adults and youth in the areas of acting for the stage and screen, directing, playwriting, musical theatre, and drama criticism. the organization also conducts extensive outreach…

Arts & Culture
11
Extreme Lengths Productions Inc

Extreme lengths productions is a dc- based arts collaborative

Arts & Culture
12
Imagination Stage of Washington Dc Inc

Imagination stage of washington, dc, inc. empowers all young people to discover their voice and identity through performing arts education and professional theatre.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dance Place; the most unlike its peers is The William V Campbell Family Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

172 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 172 of the 199 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

16
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
51
Early backer (in before they grew)
165/172
Grantees still filing
109/172
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CAPITALBOP INC: $168,200 · Arts & CultureCAPITALBOP INCONE COMMON UNITY: $145,400 · Arts & CultureYoung Playwrights Theater: $124,045 · Arts & CultureWords Beats and Life Inc: $115,845 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $108,080 · Arts & CultureDC JAZZ FESTIVAL: $105,587 · Arts & Culture+59 more: $2,348,531 · Arts & Culture+59 moreWOMEN IN FILM & VIDEO INC: $343,000 · OtherWOMEN IN FILM & VIDEO INCHistorical Society of Washington DC dba DC History Center: $254,200 · OtherHistorical Society of Washington …DC SCORES: $119,345 · OtherDC PRESERVATION LEAGUE: $79,045 · Other+69 more: $1,495,246 · Other+69 moreONE WORLD EDUCATION: $140,000 · EducationONE WORLD EDUCATI…Live It Learn It: $97,200 · EducationLive It Learn ItTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $90,520 · EducationTHE HOWARD UNIVER…MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION: $89,000 · EducationMIKVA CHALLENGE G…Learnserve International: $80,845 · EducationLearnserve Intern…AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $80,000 · EducationAMERICAN UNIVERSI…READING PARTNERS: $65,000 · EducationREADING PARTNERSStory District Inc: $60,845 · EducationMULTI-MEDIA TRAINING INSTITUTE: $53,350 · EducationGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $50,363 · Education+19 more: $390,917 · Education+19 moreStreet Sense Inc: $125,000 · Human ServicesCENTER FOR NONPROFIT ADVANCEMENT: $60,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON: $55,000 · Human ServicesESTHER PRODUCTIONS INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesMETRO DC COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $35,080 · Human ServicesCHILDREN OF MINE: $30,000 · Human ServicesSNCC LEGACY PROJECT: $27,000 · Human ServicesInclusion Zone: $25,000 · Human ServicesURBAN LEARNING AND TEACHING CENTER: $25,000 · Human ServicesREACH EDUCATION INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesAsian American LEAD: $25,000 · Human Services+7 more: $76,580 · Human Services826DC INC: $129,045 · Youth DevelopmentGLOBAL KIDS INC: $88,200 · Youth DevelopmentCritical Exposure Inc: $82,265 · Youth DevelopmentLATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER: $63,000 · Youth DevelopmentPROJECT CREATE: $30,000 · Youth DevelopmentEAST OF THE RIVER BOYS AND GIRLS STEELBAND INC: $25,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $8,000 · Youth DevelopmentEMPOWER DC: $75,400 · Community ImprovementSHAW MAIN STREETS INC: $40,885 · Community ImprovementBUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS THE RIVER INC: $25,000 · Community ImprovementDC Greens Inc: $8,000 · Community ImprovementMARSHALL HEIGHTS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: $7,000 · Community ImprovementAFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC ASSOCIATION INC: $100,040 · ReligionSIXTH & I SYNAGOGUE INC: $15,845 · Religion
Arts & Culture$3,115,688Other$2,290,836Education$1,198,040Human Services$558,660Youth Development$425,510Community Improvement$156,285Religion$115,885

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWOMEN IN FILM & VIDEO INC: $343,000 over 7y, 18% of budgetHistorical Society of Washington DC dba DC History Center: $254,200 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetCAPITALBOP INC: $168,200 over 4y, 43% of budgetONE COMMON UNITY: $145,400 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetONE WORLD EDUCATION: $140,000 over 4y, 4.8% of budget826DC INC: $129,045 over 6y, 5.2% of budgetStreet Sense Inc: $125,000 over 4y, 9.7% of budgetYoung Playwrights Theater: $124,045 over 5y, 5.0% of budgetDC SCORES: $119,345 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetWords Beats and Life Inc: $115,845 over 3y, 8.0% of budgetNATIONAL WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $108,080 over 3y, 18% of budgetDC JAZZ FESTIVAL: $105,587 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetHola Cultura: $100,225 over 8y, 20% of budgetAFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC ASSOCIATION INC: $100,040 over 3y, 64% of budgetLive It Learn It: $97,200 over 4y, 6.5% of budgetThe MusicianShip DC: $93,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $90,520 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION: $89,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetGLOBAL KIDS INC: $88,200 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetDay Eight: $83,345 over 2y, 17% of budgetMOSAIC THEATER COMPANY OF DC: $82,845 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetCritical Exposure Inc: $82,265 over 4y, 3.4% of budgetLearnserve International: $80,845 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetLillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum: $80,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $80,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDC PRESERVATION LEAGUE: $79,045 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetEMPOWER DC: $75,400 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetDANCE INSTITUTE OF WASHINGTON: $73,200 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetHEURICH HOUSE FOUNDATION: $72,845 over 2y, 11% of budgetHOME RULE MUSIC FILM PRESERVATION FUND: $70,000 over 3y, 43% of budgetZora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation: $69,855 over 3y, 8.2% of budgetLIFE PIECES TO MASTERPIECES: $69,645 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetD C ARTS AND HUMANITIES EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE INC: $65,845 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL: $65,845 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetREADING PARTNERS: $65,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDistrict of Columbia Arts Center: $65,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetLATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER: $63,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetARCHAEOLOGY IN THE COMMUNITY: $61,075 over 3y, 29% of budgetStory District Inc: $60,845 over 3y, 6.7% of budgetTHE WASHINGTON DC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL INC: $60,845 over 3y, 6.7% of budgetCENTER FOR NONPROFIT ADVANCEMENT: $60,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetMANY LANGUAGES ONE VOICE: $58,580 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetSHOUTMOUSEPRESSINC: $58,345 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON: $55,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMULTI-MEDIA TRAINING INSTITUTE: $53,350 over 2y, 24% of budgetARTS FOR OUR CHILDREN: $52,025 over 2y, 66% of budgetPRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE AT THE SOLDIERS HOME: $52,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetNATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM: $50,845 over 3y, 0.4% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Morris and Gwendo…Greater Washington Co…United Way of the Nat…Clark-Winchcole Found…Nora Roberts Foundati…Dimick Foundation Joh…Philip L Graham Fund …Max & Victoria Dreyfu…Hattie M Strong Found…John Edward Fowler Me…Weissberg FoundationHarman Family Foundat…
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz FoundationDC98.4× affinity54 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation · Greater Washington Community Foundation · United Way of the National Capital Area · Clark-Winchcole Foundation · Nora Roberts Foundation · Dimick Foundation John M Lynham Jr Trustee · Philip L Graham Fund co Graham Holdings Company · Max & Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Inc · Hattie M Strong Foundation · John Edward Fowler Memorial Foundation · Weissberg Foundation · Harman Family Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Humanities Council of Washington DC funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Humanities Council of Washington DC. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Documentary Educational Resources Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
63report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 199 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Humanities Council of Washington DC’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home