New York · Nonprofit
CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC
CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC (New York) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,672,770 to it, the largest being NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC ($853,900). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $244k
What Cause Effective Inc does
Mission
Cause effective transforms nonprofits by partnering with mission-driven leaders to achieve social change. We work with leadership to develop, employ & expand effective fundraising, governance & organizational strategies to advance equity & justice.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Consulting - last year we counseled 139 nonprofits through customized board trainings, intensive coaching or year-long fundraising residencies. Over 1,000 nonprofit leaders were inspired and influenced by cause effective's coaching and training to diversify revenue and address risks to organizational resilience.
$780,917 spent$211,567 earned by the program96% of program spendingWorkshops - last year we led over 53 workshops and trainings designed to elevate nonprofit leadership's knowledge and skills in board governance and fundraising, made possible by collaborations with 11 funders and other partners.publications - we provide thought leadership on a sectoral level on issues pertaining to fundraising and governance, especially strategic concerns relating to equity, access, and ensuring that all have their rightful seat at the table. In 2019 cause effective released "money, power and race: the lived experience of fundraisers of color" - a searingly honest narrative uncovering the challenges faced by fundraisers of color across u.s. Nonprofits of all sizes. Which is still provoking sectoral conversations today.
$36,036 spent$174,150 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $816,953.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2023 to 2024, from $651k to $312k (−52%).
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: 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 4% · 2021 21% · 2022 9% · 2023 1% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
Sonya Shields
Executive director
Board chair
Zanetta Addams-Pilgrim
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $318k → $801k.
7 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 CAUSE EFFECTIVE 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
CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% 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
72% 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 CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 39% · 2018 62% · 2019 54% · 2020 49% · 2021 35% · 2022 42% · 2023 35% — 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
62% of CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
78% of CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $694k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC's funding base is broadening — from 5 funders to 14 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CAUSE EFFECTIVE 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
52% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
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 CAUSE EFFECTIVE 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 CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC?
- CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC (New York) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,672,770 to it, the largest being NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC ($853,900). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $2,672,770 in grants to CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC?
- NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $853,900 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CAUSE EFFECTIVE INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Cause Effective →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 20 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