New York · Nonprofit
BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION
BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,052,462 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($3,750,650). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.0M
- Funders on record
- 50
- Grants received
- $7.1M
- Net assets
- $8.8M
What Born This Way Foundation does
Mission
Born This Way Foundation empowers and inspires young people to build a kinder, braver world that supports their mental health.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The kindness in community fund is our youth-driven grantmaking initiative that empowers community organizations that are addressing young people's diverse needs globally. Guided by young people's input from nomination to selection, we support organizations that are informed or led by young people, rooted in equity and inclusion, and provide free, accessible mental health resources. In 2024, the kindness in community fund, with support from our partners at cotton on, distributed over 2.8m usd to 65 organizations across 10 countries, supporting a variety of resources that foster mental wellness including clinical care, education, and safe spaces.
$3,238,280 spentof which $2,852,542 as grants55% of program spendingBe there certificate is our free, online mental health course that equips young people with the tools to confidently and compassionately support one another, created in partnership with jack.org. Through six self-paced lessons, available in english, french, and spanish, young people and caring adults learn how to recognize when someone is struggling, provide support, and connect others to the help they deserve. As of 2024, over 60k people have earned their be there certificate, with over 50 completed daily. Surveys show that within six months of completing the course, 79% of participants have used the skills they learned to support someone, 96% feel more confident offering support, and 95% can better recognize signs of struggle.
$1,135,823 spentof which $370,706 as grants19% of program spendingWe engage youth through programs that amplify their stories and celebrate the kinder, braver world they're already building. Channel kindness is our digital platform inviting young people to put compassion into action through storytelling and community engagement. In 2024, our editors helped 142 youth share their stories, each paired with suggested actions to inspire change. The platform has featured 2k+ stories from 61 countries to date. We also host the free channel kindness storytellers club, a writing workshop that helps youth turn their perspectives into powerful narratives. In 2024, we engaged 249 participants through virtual and in-person sessions. #bekind365, our digital platform encouraging intentional daily kindness, has engaged 55k people across 119 countries, pledging 20m+ kind acts to date.
$407,923 spent7% of program spendingIn addition to the programs above, we connect young people with accessible, evidence-based mental health resources and conduct research that advances understanding of youth mental health. Our global youth advisory board guides our mission, collaborating on program design and execution to keep our work authentically youth-driven and impactful. Most recently in 2024, we partnered with hopelab to survey 1.2k lgbtq+ youth to explore how to build supportive online spaces. These findings will help us continue working alongside young people, community organizations, and decision-makers to improve practices and build awareness.
$1,135,991 spentof which $90,850 as grants$300 earned by the program19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,918,017.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $5.8M to $9.6M (+66%).
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: 2019 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION’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. 2 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $89k → $1.2M.
17 of 50 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 75% 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 BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 50 funders by total. 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
BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
82% 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 BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 82% · 2019 79% · 2020 79% · 2021 75% · 2022 27% · 2023 84% — 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
16% of BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% give in more than one year at all.
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
75% of BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION'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. Of the $1.7M that is directly attributable, 99% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 18 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION is better cushioned than half of the 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION
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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION: 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 BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION?
- BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 50 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,052,462 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($3,750,650). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 75% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 50 organizations giving $7,052,462 in grants to BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $3,750,650 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 50 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