Maryland · Nonprofit
CATHERINE PROJECT INC
CATHERINE PROJECT INC (Maryland) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $330,756 to it, the largest being APGAR FOUNDATION INC ($100,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $277k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $331k
- Net assets
- $463k
What Catherine Project Inc does
Mission
To provide substantive, high-quality person-to-person teaching to individuals 16 years or older, without fixed cost; to promote and support independent and student-directed learning.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program and a significant change in how it conducts a program.
During our Fall 2024 term, the Catherine Project introduced a new program, which we called our Core Program. The Core Program is intended to serve as an introduction to the serious reading and discussion of great books, and as a means of nurturing the intellectual habits necessary for the practice of lifelong learning in community. The Core Program consists of a sequence of four 12-week courses led by experienced readers and teachers, and introduced honoraria for volunteers leading Core Program courses. Core courses can be led singly or by a co-leading team and each course enrolls 6-15 students (co-led courses are larger).
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
During our Fall 2024 term, the Catherine Project ceased administering the program we referred to in past 990s as "tutorials." Our new Core Program (introduced Fall 2024) is meant to replace our tutorial program.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
In July 2024-June 2025, we administered 51 Core Program courses on great books, serving 483 learners free of charge (the Core Program consists of a sequence of four 12-week courses). In each Core Program course, 6-15 participants met weekly over the course of 12 weeks for seminars led by volunteer seminar leaders. Participants who completed the introductory course submitted weekly writing in subsequent courses and received feedback from their seminar leader(s).
$121,416 spent59% of program spendingIn the same period we administered 147 reading groups, serving 1409 learners free of charge. 4-15 participants met weekly for discussions of one or more fundamental texts guided by volunteers skilled at modeling skills of close reading and thoughtful discussion. Depending on the text chosen and reading pace, groups lasted between 1-32 weeks.
$60,115 spent29% of program spendingIn that same period, we administered 13 subject tutorials on languages, mathematics, and writing, serving 178 learners free of charge. 4-20 participants met once or twice weekly to study the subject in question. Subject tutorials ran for between 8-14 weeks.
$8,956 spent4% of program spendingIn that same period, we administered 34 online community seminars, serving 445 learners free of charge. In each seminar, 8-14 participants met for a 2 hour discussion of a fundamental text guided by volunteers skilled at modeling skills of close reading and thoughtful discussion.
$14,869 spent7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $205,356.
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 $216k to $463k (+114%).
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.
100% of CATHERINE PROJECT INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Jordan Poyner
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income fell $80k → $51k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 CATHERINE PROJECT INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 8 of 9 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
CATHERINE PROJECT INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
64% 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 CATHERINE PROJECT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 78% — 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
CATHERINE PROJECT INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Maryland, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $133k 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
CATHERINE PROJECT INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like CATHERINE PROJECT 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
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
78% 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 CATHERINE PROJECT 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 CATHERINE PROJECT INC?
- CATHERINE PROJECT INC (Maryland) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $330,756 to it, the largest being APGAR FOUNDATION INC ($100,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CATHERINE PROJECT INC have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $330,756 in grants to CATHERINE PROJECT INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CATHERINE PROJECT INC?
- APGAR FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CATHERINE PROJECT 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.
Play a game about who funds Catherine Project →
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 9 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