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The Poetry Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Poetry Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$4.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
179
Grants FY2024still arriving
35
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$14MEducation$1.6MHealth$1.2MReligion$743kCommunity Improvement$436kYouth Development$310kScience & Tech$289kCrime & Legal$246kOther$0
02FY2024 · 179 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k54 grants · $213k
  • $10k–50k112 grants · $2.7M
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $785k
  • $250k+1 grant · $500k
$20,000
Median grant
35
States reached
$313M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MID ATLANTIC ARTS$500,000
Individual grant recipient$114,204
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION$106,122
Individual grant recipient$100,000
COMMUNITY OF LITERARY MAGAZINES AND PRESSES$60,000
CAVE CANEM$55,000
THIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC$50,000
IDEAS XLAB$50,000
WOODLAND PATTERN INC$50,000
BOARD OF TRUSTEES AT ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY$50,000
COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE$50,000
POETS HOUSE INC$50,000
POETRY CENTER OF CHICAGO$50,000
TALLER COMUNIDAD LA GOYCO INC$45,000
WOODLAND PATTERN INC$45,000
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 (FY17–24, $603k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CENTER INC: $20k → 8%GOOD JOURNEY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $18k → 21%RADICAL REVERSAL: $50k → 16%CITY OF ASYLUM PITTSBURGH: $20k → 11%MANO AMIGA SM: $20k → 10%FREEDOM READS: $45k → 12%RADICAL REVERSAL: $40k → 16%CITY OF ASYLUM PITTSBURGH: $13k → 11%PHILADELPHIA CONTEMPORARY: $40k → 22%COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $50k → 14%COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $50k → 14%COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $15k → 14%COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $15k → 14%COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $15k → 14%THIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%THIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 14%THIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC: $20k → 14%THIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 14%BURST INTO BOOKS: $25k → 14%Third World Press Foundation: $3k → 14%BURST INTO BOOKS: $25k → 14%BURST INTO BOOKS: $15k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 268 repeat orgs$7.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +22% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

268 repeat relationships: 80 still active in FY2024, 188 since wound down; 87 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

268
945

Total granted

$12M
$6.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+17%

Still filing today

51%
14%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.3M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyOther
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

  • MA
    MID ATLANTIC ARTS INC
    2× · 2018–2024 · $502k · revenue +218%
  • GW
    GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $400k · revenue +56%
  • VV
    VERSE VIDEO EDUCATION
    5× · 2017–2021 · $360k · revenue +249%

Funded once

  • IA
    ILLINOIS ARTS ALLIANCE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $254k
  • MP
    MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA
    one grant, 2021 · $225k · revenue +0%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $100k
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
Gulf Coast - a Journal of Literature and Fine Arts

To publish and promote literature.

—
2
Literary Cleveland

Literary Cleveland assists writers and readers at all stages of development, promotes new and existing literature of the highest quality, and advances Northeast Ohio as a vital center of diverse voices and visions.

Education
3
Dzanc Books Inc

Dzanc Books was hailed as the future of publishing in Publishers Weekly in December 2007. Beginning with modest goals of publishing 4-6 titles each year, the house now publishes between 10-15 books annually. Notable and award-winning…

Arts & Culture
4
Republic of Letters

The Organization principally exists to (a) cultivate writing that extends the literary tradition while enabling the public to confront the challenges of the present; (b) develop literature using meticulous craft and discerning curation…

Arts & Culture
5
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Inc
—
6
The Poetry Foundation
Arts & Culture
7
Graywolf Press

Graywolf press publishes risk-taking, visionary writers who transform culture through literature. when writers are free to do their most ambitious work, their books serve as portals to new possibilities and enable deeper understanding…

Arts & Culture
8
The Black Literacy and Arts Collaborative Project
—
9
The Paris Review Foundation Inc

The mission of the organization is to foster the development of creative individuals as writers and artists and to promote public appreciation of excellence in the literary and graphic arts by publishing a magazine containing fiction,…

Education
10
Nomadic Press

Through publications, events, and active community participation, Nomadic Press collectively weaves together platforms for intentionally marginalized voices to take their rightful place within the world of the written and spoken word.…

Arts & Culture
11
Catamaran Literary Reader

Publish a quarterly literary journal, offer educational programs to the public related to the journal, and run a poetry competition, resulting in the publishing of a book of poetry by a West Coast poet.

Arts & Culture
12
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses

The council of literary magazines and presses serves one of the most active segments of american arts and culture: the independent publishers of exceptional fiction, poetry and prose. the council of literary magazines and presses…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shoutmousepressinc; the most unlike its peers is Motor City Sings. 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

322 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. 322 of the 1,304 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.

15
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
56
Early backer (in before they grew)
315/322
Grantees still filing
204/322
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MID ATLANTIC ARTS INC: $501,715 · Arts & CultureMID ATLANTIC ARTS INCGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $400,000 · Arts & CultureGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AS…VERSE VIDEO EDUCATION: $360,000 · Arts & CultureUnited States Artists Inc: $330,000 · Arts & CultureWOODLAND PATTERN INC: $325,000 · Arts & Culture+78 more: $5,273,975 · Arts & Culture+78 moreUNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: $294,219 · OtherILLINOIS ARTS ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $253,500 · OtherAmerican Public Media: $251,807 · Other+80 more: $4,852,713 · Other+80 moreCAVE CANEM FOUNDATION INC: $265,000 · EducationCAVE CANEM…UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $216,250 · EducationUNIVERSITY…WRITERS WITHOUT MARGINS INC: $105,000 · EducationWRITERS WI…URBAN WORD NYC INC: $100,000 · EducationURBAN WORD…826CHI INC: $87,500 · Education826CHI INCTHE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS: $82,000 · EducationTHE CHICAG…University of Arizona Foundation: $80,000 · EducationUniversity…University of Notre Dame du Lac: $71,000 · EducationSTREET POETS INC: $60,000 · Education826 NEW ORLEANS: $55,000 · EducationChiArts Foundation: $50,000 · Education+6 more: $210,000 · Education+6 moreCOMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $145,000 · Human ServicesTHIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC: $127,500 · Human ServicesRADICAL REVERSAL: $90,000 · Human ServicesBURST INTO BOOKS: $65,000 · Human ServicesFREEDOM READS INC: $45,000 · Human ServicesPHILADELPHIA CONTEMPORARY: $40,000 · Human ServicesCITY OF ASYLUM: $32,500 · Human ServicesNEAR SOUTH PLANNING BOARD: $121,000 · Community ImprovementFUSION PARTNERSHIP INC: $95,000 · Community ImprovementResilience Partners NFP: $90,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $50,000 · Community ImprovementTALLER COMUNIDAD LA GOYCO INC: $45,000 · Community ImprovementPOETIC JUSTICE INC: $130,000 · Crime & LegalREADING BETWEEN THE LINES NFP: $55,000 · Crime & LegalCONTEXTOS NFP: $90,000 · InternationalWords Without Borders Inc: $45,000 · InternationalPeace Development Fund: $35,000 · International
Arts & Culture$7,190,690Other$5,652,239Education$1,381,750Human Services$545,000Community Improvement$401,000Crime & Legal$185,000International$170,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetMID ATLANTIC ARTS INC: $501,715 over 2y, 6.1% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $400,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetVERSE VIDEO EDUCATION: $360,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetUnited States Artists Inc: $330,000 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetWOODLAND PATTERN INC: $325,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetCAVE CANEM FOUNDATION INC: $265,000 over 6y, 5.2% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $225,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $216,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS INC: $209,000 over 7y, 2.5% of budgetThe Poetry Center: $182,700 over 6y, 16% of budgetO MIAMI INC: $180,000 over 5y, 7.0% of budgetNATIONAL POETRY SERIES INC: $180,000 over 6y, 7.6% of budgetMINNESOTA PRISON WRITING WORKSHOP: $160,000 over 4y, 8.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE: $145,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetTHE JOFFREY BALLET: $140,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMASSPOETRY INC: $137,500 over 6y, 9.3% of budgetPOETIC JUSTICE INC: $130,000 over 3y, 20% of budgetCityLit Project Inc: $130,000 over 3y, 29% of budgetTHIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC: $127,500 over 4y, 29% of budgetTHE AMERICAN WRITERS MUSEUM: $126,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetNEAR SOUTH PLANNING BOARD: $121,000 over 6y, 4.9% of budgetSTEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY: $115,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetKUUMBA LYNX: $110,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetWRITERS WITHOUT MARGINS INC: $105,000 over 3y, 55% of budgetINSIDEOUT LITERARY ARTS PROJECT: $105,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetCHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC: $100,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSplit This Rock Inc: $100,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetURBAN WORD NYC INC: $100,000 over 5y, 5.5% of budgetCHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKUNDIMAN INC: $100,000 over 3y, 4.9% of budgetFUSION PARTNERSHIP INC: $95,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMIZNA: $92,500 over 4y, 12% of budgetPEN AMERICAN CENTER INC: $90,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetResilience Partners NFP: $90,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetRADICAL REVERSAL: $90,000 over 2y, 98% of budgetCONTEXTOS NFP: $90,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budget826CHI INC: $87,500 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetPOETRY SOCIETY OF AMERICA: $87,000 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetTHE POETRY PROJECT LTD: $85,000 over 3y, 4.0% of budgetNOEMI PRESS INC: $85,000 over 4y, 48% of budgetLAMBDA LITERARY FOUNDATION: $85,000 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetTHE DIATRIBE INC: $85,000 over 2y, 6.8% of budgetTHE CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS: $82,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCalifornia Poets in the Schools: $80,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetPOETS HOUSE INC: $80,000 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetUniversity of Arizona Foundation: $80,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe Beautiful Project Inc: $80,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetTORCH LITERARY ARTS: $80,000 over 2y, 16% 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.

  • Who funds MID ATLANTIC ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds VERSE VIDEO EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds United States Artists Inc ↗
  • Who funds WOODLAND PATTERN INC ↗
  • Who funds CAVE CANEM FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS INC ↗
  • Who funds The Poetry Center ↗
  • Who funds O MIAMI INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL POETRY SERIES INC ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA PRISON WRITING WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE ↗
  • Who funds THE JOFFREY BALLET ↗
  • Who funds MASSPOETRY INC ↗
  • Who funds POETIC JUSTICE INC ↗
  • Who funds CityLit Project Inc ↗
  • Who funds THIRD WORLD PRESS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE AMERICAN WRITERS MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds NEAR SOUTH PLANNING BOARD ↗
  • Who funds STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds KUUMBA LYNX ↗
  • Who funds WRITERS WITHOUT MARGINS INC ↗
  • Who funds INSIDEOUT LITERARY ARTS PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO THEATRE GROUP INC ↗
  • Who funds Split This Rock Inc ↗
  • Who funds URBAN WORD NYC INC ↗

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 Academy of Americ…National Book Foundat…Council of Literary M…Hawthornden FoundationJust Buffalo Literary…John D and Catherine …The Andrew W Mellon F…Lloyd a Fry FoundationField Foundation of I…Polk Bros Foundation …Illinois Humanities C…Gaylord and Dorothy D…
The Academy of American Poets IncNY95.9× affinity46 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Academy of American Poets Inc · National Book Foundation Inc · Council of Literary Magazines and Presses · Hawthornden Foundation · Just Buffalo Literary Center Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · Lloyd a Fry Foundation · Field Foundation of Illinois · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · Illinois Humanities Council Inc · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley 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 The Poetry Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Poetry Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Mid Atlantic Arts Inc: 66% of income from government
  • Verse Video Education: 35% of income from government
  • Cavankerry Press Ltd: 24% of income from government
  • Community Building Art Works: 18% of income from government
  • CityLit Project Inc: 15% of income from government
  • Freedom Reads Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Literary Arts Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Cambridge Community Center Inc: 8% of income from government
  • People and Stories Gente Y Cuentos: 7% of income from government
  • Arts Council of Princeton: 6% of income from government
  • Fusion Partnership Inc: 3% of income from government
  • O Miami Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Hermitage Artist Retreat Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
46report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 1304 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Poetry’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