California · Nonprofit
916 INK
916 INK (California) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,727,041 to it, the largest being Arata Brothers Trust ($725,800). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 29
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $257k
What 916 Ink does
Mission
916 Ink empowers youth in sacramento through creative writing and literacy workshop, as well as tutoring, aimed at transforming them into proficient readers, confident communicators and published authors.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
916 Ink served 1207 youth through 54 creative writing workshop series' held at community partner, school sites and at the our creative writing center, the imaginarium. 916 Ink programs are proven to positively impact self-esteem, writing confidence, personal achievement, and overall academic engagement. Our pre/post evaluation results show that after successful completion of a workshop: 84 percent of students improved attitudes toward academics. Additionally, 86 percent improve in terms of social and emotional development. 916 Ink published 32 anthologies of student poetry, prose and stories. Published youth experience emotional health gains as they find their voice, express and process difficult circumstances, and are celebrated for sharing their stories through the publication of their book. Ultimately, youth become resilient-they know who they are, how they got here, and can write their ticket into a more positive future.
$1,275,747 spent100% of program spending916 Ink served 103 students with one-on-one literacy instruction at 4 schools in south sacramento. Read on! Is an effective literacy tutoring program which seeks to reduce the literacy gap for students identified as being behind in grade level reading. 100% of students showed some growth in foundational reading skills. 62 community volunteers provided more than 3,600 hours of individualized instruction. Read on! Is a collaborative literacy solution that will support positive outcomes for generations to come.
916 Ink recruited 23 americorps members to serve their communities. Members supported students throughout the sacramento region in their eductional journey. Americorps members received more than 3,000 hours of training and coaching in support of their own professional goals. Americorps members learn valuable life skills through real world experience. Americorps members who complete their term of service receive a substantial education award which can be used in future educational attainment.
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,275,747.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $317k to $594k (+87%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 33% · 2021 59% · 2022 17% · 2023 25% · 2024 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
64% of 916 INK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 8 funders, grant income rose $144k → $213k.
5 of 29 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of 916 INK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
916 INK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 45% · 2018 33% · 2019 43% · 2020 34% · 2021 56% · 2022 63% · 2023 56% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
38% of 916 INK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
94% of 916 INK's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $285k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
916 INK has grown faster than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding 916 INK receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $85k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$85k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like 916 INK
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for 916 INK: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds 916 INK?
- 916 INK (California) receives grants from 29 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,727,041 to it, the largest being Arata Brothers Trust ($725,800). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does 916 INK have?
- IRS filings report 29 organizations giving $1,727,041 in grants to 916 INK, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of 916 INK?
- Arata Brothers Trust is the largest funder on record, with $725,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like 916 INK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds 916 Ink →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 29 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing