Massachusetts · Nonprofit
CITY LIGHTS INC
CITY LIGHTS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $128,518 to it, the largest being CUMMINGS FOUNDATION GRANTS INC (FKA ONEWORLD BOSTON INC) ($75,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2022
- $15k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $129k
- Net assets
- $17k
What City Lights Inc does
Mission
To provide writing and arts education programs to underserved youth in Greater Boston
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Boston Shakespeare Project delivers after-school theater arts programs to students in Greater Bostons under-resourced schools 20 students ages 10-14 benefitted in 2022
$6,624 spent37% of program spendingCity Lights Writing delivers after-school writing programs to under-represented youth in Greater Boston schools 20 students ages 14-20 benefitted in 2022
$11,240 spent63% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $17,864.
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 2017 to 2018, from $66k to $39k (−42%).
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 CITY LIGHTS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Kerri Bowen
Director Key Employee Executive Director
As listed on its FY2022 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2021: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income fell $35k → $19k.
3 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 CITY LIGHTS 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
CITY LIGHTS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
27% 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 CITY LIGHTS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 54% — 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
100% of CITY LIGHTS INC's grant income comes from Massachusetts funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $35k 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
CITY LIGHTS INC's revenue fell 70% between 2017 and 2022.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,184 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2022
Government funding CITY LIGHTS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$5k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CITY LIGHTS 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
36%
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 CITY LIGHTS 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 CITY LIGHTS INC?
- CITY LIGHTS INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $128,518 to it, the largest being CUMMINGS FOUNDATION GRANTS INC (FKA ONEWORLD BOSTON INC) ($75,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CITY LIGHTS INC have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $128,518 in grants to CITY LIGHTS INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CITY LIGHTS INC?
- CUMMINGS FOUNDATION GRANTS INC (FKA ONEWORLD BOSTON INC) is the largest funder on record, with $75,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CITY LIGHTS 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 City Lights →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2022 (financials across 2017–2022), and the filings of 7 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