Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Change Elemental
Change Elemental (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,493,145 to it, the largest being WEINGART FOUNDATION ($1,966,715). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $8.5M
- Net assets
- $4.5M
What Change Elemental does
Mission
The primary program of Change Elemental involves providing individualized, in depth support to nonprofit groups that are grappling with organizational problems, challenged by change or growth, or striving to become stronger. Change Elemental works exclusively with groups committed to a just, humane and sustainable society. The issues Change Elemental helps social purpose organizations to address include: purpose and priorities, organizational structure, managerial styles, financial management, fund-raising, working relationships, board development, and planning.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Consulting - The primary program of Change Elemental involves providing individualized, in depth support to nonprofit groups that are grappling with organizational problems, challenged by change or growth, or striving to become stronger. Change Elemental works exclusively with groups committed to a just, humane and sustainable society. The issues Change Elemental helps social purpose organizations to address include: purpose and priorities, organizational structure, managerial styles, financial management, fund-raising, working relationships, board development, and planning.
$1,575,032 spentof which $4,759 as grants$788,183 earned by the program99% of program spendingThe Prefiguring Futures Lab-The Prefiguring Futures Lab is a generator for power with and power within (and appropriate uses of power over)--for the be-how and know-how of advancing liberatory transformation. Rooted in the elements of liberatory transformation, it provides experiences, experiments, and practice--as well as some resources and tools--for tending to the being and doing of prefiguring liberation.
$14,132 spent1% of program spendingKarl Mathiasen Capacity building Fund -- Change Elemental created the Karl Mathiasen Capacity Building Fund to provide subsidies to groups who need our assistance but cannot afford the full fees. Change Elemental raises money each year to support the KM Fund. The KM Fund helps social organizations at the national and community level to do what they do better by: (a) strengthening their clarity of purpose, (b) defining the most effective strategies to meet new challenges, and (c) structuring themselves more powerfully to make a difference.
$2,500 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,591,664.
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 2018 to 2019, from $2.2M to $3.7M (+65%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of Change Elemental’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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 1 funder to 12 funders, grant income rose $68k → $762k.
8 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% 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 Change Elemental’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
Change Elemental has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 42% · 2019 45% · 2020 43% · 2021 24% · 2022 27% · 2023 34% — 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
43% of Change Elemental's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
Change Elemental draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $890k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
Change Elemental runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Change Elemental
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
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 Change Elemental: 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 Change Elemental?
- Change Elemental (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,493,145 to it, the largest being WEINGART FOUNDATION ($1,966,715). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Change Elemental have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $8,493,145 in grants to Change Elemental, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Change Elemental?
- WEINGART FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,966,715 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Change Elemental find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 25 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