Skip to content

New Jersey · Nonprofit

BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON

BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON (New Jersey) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $634,745 to it, the largest being VITAL STRATEGIES INC ($473,856). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$564k
Funders on record
7
Grants received
$635k
Net assets
$280k
3/7 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 76%
01What it does

What Black Lives Matter Paterson does

Mission

A community activist group formed to ensure equity within the community

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Provide both educational and supportive services within the community

    $0 spent
  2. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
  3. Not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $0.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 = 20212021 Revenue 100 ($111k) Expenses 100 ($47k) Net assets 100 ($64k)2022 Revenue 78 ($87k) Expenses 308 ($144k) Net assets 52 ($33k)2023 Revenue 329 ($364k) Expenses 651 ($305k) Net assets 147 ($94k)2024 Revenue 472 ($522k) Expenses 968 ($453k) Net assets 390 ($248k)2025 Revenue 510 ($564k) Expenses 1071 ($502k) Net assets 439 ($280k)
20212022202320242025
Revenue (510)Expenses (1071)Net assets (439)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 2023 to 2024, from $94k to $248k (+166%).

$64k
$33k
$94k
$248k
$293k
20212022202320242025
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.

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2023 0% · 2024 26% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

100% of BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

$64k
’21
−$58k
’22
$59k
’23
$69k
’24
$62k
’25
5.3
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

Zellie Thomas

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202320242025
Listed333
Joined·+0+0
No longer listed·00
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $27k → $278k.

5 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON’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

BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.

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

100% 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 BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON.

75%
largest funder
93%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 54% · 2023 91% — 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.

Where its funders are

BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside New Jersey, across 2 states in all.

NY
NJ

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $156k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin11% · above the median
Months of reserve5.3mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)50% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.0M on record.

State$1.0M
24
25
26
Top programs
  • GRANT IN AID$584k
  • TRUST FUND$224k
  • DEDICATED$132k
  • DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$62k

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 BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON

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 Jersey

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

95% of spending goes to programs.

Program 95%Management 5%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON?
BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON (New Jersey) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $634,745 to it, the largest being VITAL STRATEGIES INC ($473,856). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON have?
IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $634,745 in grants to BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON?
VITAL STRATEGIES INC is the largest funder on record, with $473,856 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like BLACK LIVES MATTER PATERSON find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. 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 Black Lives Matter Paterson →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2021–2025), and the filings of 7 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