Illinois · Nonprofit
BARN RAISING MEDIA INC
BARN RAISING MEDIA INC (Illinois) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $656,098 to it, the largest being THE PUFFIN FOUNDATION LTD (F/K/A PUFFIN NEW JERSEY INC) ($225,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $488k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $656k
- Net assets
- $109k
What Barn Raising Media Inc does
Mission
The organization publishes independent news, analysis and information to support diverse, civically engaged and dynamically connected rural and small town communities. We champion the free exchange of public dialogue by bringing together underrepresented voices and perspectives on the intractable issues facing communities and policymakers. We seek to convene a space where big questions and bold ideas enliven proximate connections, where daring criticism, rational debate and compassionate care will renew the social imagination to build common ground, encourage democratic participation and inspire change.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The organization developed and launched its website, barn raiser, as an independent source for rural and small town news. The site hosts news and investigative reports, interviews, opinion pieces, and articles on topics such as politics & policy, native life, history, environment, culture, religion, and agriculture. The organization also produces and disseminates a newsletter on a periodic basis.
$313,990 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $313,990.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2024 to 2025, from $57k to $124k (+117%).
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.
99% of BARN RAISING MEDIA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 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.
Chief executive
Anne Mollo-Christensen
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $148k → $61k.
3 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 BARN RAISING MEDIA 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
BARN RAISING MEDIA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
48% 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 BARN RAISING MEDIA INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 68% · 2023 41% — 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.
Where its funders are
BARN RAISING MEDIA INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $206k 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
BARN RAISING MEDIA INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BARN RAISING MEDIA 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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BARN RAISING MEDIA 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.
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 BARN RAISING MEDIA INC?
- BARN RAISING MEDIA INC (Illinois) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $656,098 to it, the largest being THE PUFFIN FOUNDATION LTD (F/K/A PUFFIN NEW JERSEY INC) ($225,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BARN RAISING MEDIA INC have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $656,098 in grants to BARN RAISING MEDIA INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BARN RAISING MEDIA INC?
- THE PUFFIN FOUNDATION LTD (F/K/A PUFFIN NEW JERSEY INC) is the largest funder on record, with $225,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BARN RAISING MEDIA INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Barn Raising Media →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 13 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