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New York · Nonprofit

African Voices Communications Inc

African Voices Communications Inc (New York) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $208,937 to it, the largest being WEST HARLEM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ($137,500). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$191k
Funders on record
8
Grants received
$209k
Net assets
$119k
3/8 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 28%
01What it does

What African Voices Communications Inc does

Mission

Educational

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

Programs

  1. African Voices Magazine - Publication of two print issues and one digital issue. Each print issue features art, poetry, fiction and book reviews. AV publishes 50 emerging writers a year and reaches 5,000 readers.

    $79,844 spent
    47% of program spending
  2. Readings, Workshops, Exhibitions and Performance Series - a year round series that includes book signings, workshops, art exhibitions and literary readings. The workshops serve an average of 125 writers per year.

    $29,996 spent
    17% of program spending
  3. Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival Lecture Series - Reel Sisters, the first Academy Qualifying Film Festival for narrative shorts devoted to women filmmakers. The festival showcases 25 films by women of color.

    $61,708 spent
    36% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $171,548.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($103k) Expenses 100 ($115k) Net assets 100 ($79k)2018 Revenue 114 ($118k) Expenses 87 ($100k) Net assets 122 ($97k)2019 Revenue 109 ($112k) Expenses 102 ($117k) Net assets 115 ($91k)2020 Revenue 174 ($179k) Expenses 82 ($94k) Net assets 131 ($104k)2021 Revenue 229 ($235k) Expenses 154 ($177k) Net assets 205 ($162k)2022 Revenue 245 ($252k) Expenses 224 ($258k) Net assets 197 ($156k)2023 Revenue 263 ($271k) Expenses 253 ($291k) Net assets 181 ($143k)2024 Revenue 161 ($166k) Expenses 177 ($204k) Net assets 164 ($129k)2025 Revenue 186 ($191k) Expenses 176 ($202k) Net assets 150 ($119k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (186)Expenses (176)Net assets (150)Peer revenue range

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 $111k to $169k (+53%).

$79k
$97k
$91k
$111k
$169k
$181k
$178k
$130k
$119k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 34% · 2022 58% · 2023 72%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

80% of African Voices Communications Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 25,057 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$12k
’17
$17k
’18
−$6k
’19
$86k
’20
$58k
’21
−$5k
’22
−$20k
’23
−$38k
’24
−$11k
’25
7.2
months of
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.

Chief executive

Carolyn A Butts

Executive Director

Board chair

Sheila Johnson

Chairperson

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.

202120222023
Listed665
Joined·+0+2
No longer listed·03
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income fell $29k → $21k.

3 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 African Voices Communications Inc’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

African Voices Communications Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

98% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund African Voices Communications Inc.

66%
largest funder
84%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 78% · 2019 100% · 2020 97% · 2021 63% · 2022 58% · 2023 70% — diversifying over time.

“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

50% of African Voices Communications Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

98% of African Voices Communications Inc's grant income comes from New York funders.

NY
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $29k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

African Voices Communications Inc has grown faster than half of the 17,450 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−6% · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)8% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,450 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding African Voices Communications Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $180k on record.

Federal$180k
grants $180kcontracts $0
18
21
22
23
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$180k

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 African Voices Communications Inc

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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for African Voices Communications Inc: 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.

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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 African Voices Communications Inc?
African Voices Communications Inc (New York) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $208,937 to it, the largest being WEST HARLEM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ($137,500). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does African Voices Communications Inc have?
IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $208,937 in grants to African Voices Communications Inc, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of African Voices Communications Inc?
WEST HARLEM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION is the largest funder on record, with $137,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like African Voices Communications Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 African Voices Communications →

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 8 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