California · Nonprofit
BLACK MEN SPEAK
BLACK MEN SPEAK (California) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $10,000 to it, the largest being EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($10,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $374k
- Funders on record
- 1
- Grants received
- $10k
- Net assets
- $154k
What Black Men Speak does
Mission
Our mission is to inform, educate, and enlighten the mental health community and the general public about issues concerning african american males and men of color suffering from mental health and substance abuse challenges by means of storytelling. By sharing their lived experiences, members of Black Men Speaks and men of color promote self and communal wellness, recovery, and freedom.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Black Men Speak, inc. (bms) is an inspirational speakers bureau founded in 2009 through the alameda county pool of consumer champions. Members of Black Men Speak, inc, men of color and women of color tell their personal stories of what it is like to be an african american, man of color and women of color, with mental health and substance abuse issues living in urban communities. We do this by relaying our individual roads to recovery.
$28,772 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $28,772.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 $65k to $182k (+180%).
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: 2023 84% · 2025 91%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of BLACK MEN SPEAK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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
Damon Johnson
Executive director
Board chair
Dr Stephanie Edwards
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 1 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 MEN SPEAK’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.
Where its funders are
100% of BLACK MEN SPEAK's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
BLACK MEN SPEAK has grown faster than three-quarters of the 7,883 health nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,883 health nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like BLACK MEN SPEAK
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
9% 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 BLACK MEN SPEAK: 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 BLACK MEN SPEAK?
- BLACK MEN SPEAK (California) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $10,000 to it, the largest being EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($10,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BLACK MEN SPEAK have?
- IRS filings report 1 organization giving $10,000 in grants to BLACK MEN SPEAK.
- Who is the largest funder of BLACK MEN SPEAK?
- EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BLACK MEN SPEAK 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 Black Men Speak →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 1 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