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Maryland · Nonprofit

AFRO CHARITIES INC

AFRO CHARITIES INC (Maryland) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,786,341 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($3,000,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$4.0M
Funders on record
26
Grants received
$4.8M
Net assets
$7.5M
9/26 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Afro Charities Inc does

Mission

Afro charities cares for the historic afro american newspapers' archive and creates meaningful opportunities for our community to engage with this indispensible set of resources.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The development of the historic Upton Mansion includes the restoration of the historic mansion and carriage house, the construction of an annex at the rear of the property, and extensive site work on the grounds. Once complete, the campus will be ADA accessible for the first time in its nearly 200-year history and will become an important economic anchor in a neighborhood that has suffered from generations of disinvestment.

    $423,280 spent
    46% of program spending

  2. The AFRO Archives have historically been an internal reference archive for AFRO editors and reporters. Afro Charities has taken on the labor- intensive work of converting these materials into a public-facing research archive. To process the collection, we pull files from throughout the collection and arrange them in alphabetical order, working one letter at a time. We make simple interventions to physically stabilize archival documents in the folders.

    $334,978 spent$1,870 earned by the program
    36% of program spending

  3. Afro Charities hosts a biennial artist commissioning project, inviting contemporary artists to explore the AFRO Archives, and supporting their research and artistic production. Artists work is ultimately shown in a public exhibition. Each artist will have 14 months to conduct original research in the AFRO News Archives, and to produce new artwork inspired by their findings. The artists will be provided with technical assistance and generous research, production and materials stipends to support their work.

    $29,745 spent
    3% of program spending

  4. Mrs. Santa program, conversation series, youth programs

    $137,273 spent
    15% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $925,276.

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($36k) Expenses 100 ($38k) Net assets 100 ($44k)2018 Revenue 134 ($48k) Expenses 70 ($26k) Net assets 150 ($66k)2019 Revenue 5 ($2k) Expenses 24 ($9k) Net assets 96 ($42k)2020 Revenue 143 ($51k) Expenses 104 ($39k) Net assets 123 ($54k)2021 Revenue 143 ($51k) Expenses 96 ($36k) Net assets 158 ($70k)2022 Revenue 6788 ($2.5M) Expenses 682 ($258k) Net assets 5146 ($2.3M)2023 Revenue 1080 ($390k) Expenses 1177 ($446k) Net assets 8513 ($3.7M)2024 Revenue 10775 ($3.9M) Expenses 2552 ($967k) Net assets 15737 ($6.9M)2025 Revenue 10938 ($4.0M) Expenses 2944 ($1.1M) Net assets 17134 ($7.5M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (10938)Expenses (2944)Net assets (17134)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $6.9M to $15M (+121%).

$45k
$66k
$42k
$54k
$70k
$2.3M
$3.8M
$6.9M
$15M
'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: 2023 4% · 2024 89% · 2025 58%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

−$2k
’17
$22k
’18
−$7k
’19
$12k
’20
$15k
’21
$2.2M
’22
−$56k
’23
$2.9M
’24
$2.8M
’25
14
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

Savannah Wood

Executive director

Board chair

Robert Matthews

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

20172022202320242025
Listed2110101010
Joined··+0+6+1
No longer listed··061
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $10k → $1.4M.

Funder
'17
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
Rdk Foundationidentity?
$196k
Johns Hopkins Universityunclassified
$19k
funders
1
1
3
5
6
5
10
7

10 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% 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 AFRO CHARITIES 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

AFRO CHARITIES INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

63%
largest funder
82%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 73% · 2021 94% · 2022 63% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.

“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

25% of AFRO CHARITIES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 35% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

AFRO CHARITIES INC draws 81% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 4 states in all.

MN
NY
CA
MD

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

’17
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maryland out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $718k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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

Government funding AFRO CHARITIES INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.3M on record.

Federal$2.3M
grants $2.3Mcontracts $0
Top agencies
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development$2.0M
  • National Archives and Records Administration$257k

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 AFRO CHARITIES 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 Maryland

The African American Resources-Cultural and Heritage Society Inc79%Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions of St Mary's County Inc78%Arts for the Aging Inc75%Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center Inc73%African Art Museum of Maryland73%Ujima Cooperative Inc73%Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation Inc73%Historic Hampton Incorporated72%

Nationally

The African American Resources-Cultural and Heritage Society Inc79%African American Collections Inc79%African American Museum of Performing Arts79%The Museum for African Art D/B/A the Africa Center78%Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community Inc78%Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions of St Mary's County Inc78%African American Family & Cultural Center77%The Amistad Center for Art & Culture Inc77%
05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

84% of spending goes to programs.

Program 84%Management 10%Fundraising 6%

Governance

9
board members
78%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

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

MD

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Upton Mansion LLC · disregarded

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AFRO CHARITIES 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 AFRO CHARITIES INC?
AFRO CHARITIES INC (Maryland) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,786,341 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($3,000,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does AFRO CHARITIES INC have?
IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $4,786,341 in grants to AFRO CHARITIES INC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of AFRO CHARITIES INC?
THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like AFRO CHARITIES INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

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 26 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing