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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC

CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $94,303 to it, the largest being GARDINER HOWLAND SHAW FOUNDATION ($47,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2021
$64k
Funders on record
6
Grants received
$94k
Net assets
$21k
4/6 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 54%
01What it does

What Citizens for Safety Inc does

Mission

Mobilizing the power of grassroots action to stop the flow of guns to criminals and to create safe communities where every child can grow up without the fear of being shot.

As stated on its FY2021 Form 990-EZ.

Program

The organization conducts educational workshops (traffick jam community workshops) about illegal gun trafficking for citizens, community organizations, church groups, school groups, public officials, law enforcement and members of the media who live in cities deeply affected by gun violence. The organization distributes workbooks, brochures, fact sheets, tee shirts, and other materials to workshop participants and other members of the communities it services. In addition the operation lipstick program is a groundbreaking program of peer-to-peer education, community organizing and social service intervention to prevent women from being exploited to buy, hide or hold guns used in crime. Lipstick helps women discover their own power to say no when asked to provide guns to people who cannot get them legally.

The first program described on its most recent Form 990-EZ.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($89k) Expenses 100 ($92k) Net assets 100 ($392)2018 Revenue 239 ($212k) Expenses 163 ($149k) Net assets 16176 ($63k)2019 Revenue 170 ($151k) Expenses 154 ($141k) Net assets 18634 ($73k)2020 Revenue 16 ($14k) Expenses 89 ($81k) Net assets 1543 ($6k)2021 Revenue 72 ($64k) Expenses 53 ($48k) Net assets 5429 ($21k)
20172018201920202021
Revenue (72)Expenses (53)Net assets (5429)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $74k to $6k (−92%).

$2k
$65k
$74k
$6k
$21k
20172018201920202021
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

−$3k
’17
$63k
’18
$10k
’19
−$67k
’20
$15k
’21
4.8
months of
reserve
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2021: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $48k → $5k.

From the IRS filings of CITIZENS FOR SAFETY 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

CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

28% 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 CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC.

50%
largest funder
88%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 55% · 2019 100% · 2021 100% — growing more concentrated.

“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

50% of CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.

IL
MA
PA
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’21
Massachusetts out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like CITIZENS FOR SAFETY 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 Massachusetts

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CITIZENS FOR SAFETY 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.

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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 CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC?
CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $94,303 to it, the largest being GARDINER HOWLAND SHAW FOUNDATION ($47,500). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC have?
IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $94,303 in grants to CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC?
GARDINER HOWLAND SHAW FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $47,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CITIZENS FOR SAFETY INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Citizens for Safety →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2021 (financials across 2017–2021), and the filings of 6 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