Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
CITY OF ASYLUM
CITY OF ASYLUM (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,042,441 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($900,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.1M
- Funders on record
- 61
- Grants received
- $6.0M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What City of Asylum does
Mission
City of Asylum builds a just community by protecting and celebrating freedom of creative expression. We provide sanctuary to endangered literary writers and artists, so that they can continue to write and their voices are not silenced. We offer a broad range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs in a community setting to build social equity through cultural exchange. And by transforming dilapidated properties into homes for our programs, we anchor neighborhood economic development.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The organization provides living stipends and healthcare for two to three years and housing for as long as necessary to exiled writers-in-residence. The organization also provides support and housing to short-term visiting writers and artists in residence.
$373,941 spentof which $231,030 as grants32% of program spendingDuring the current fiscal year, the organization presented literary, musical, and film programs, all free to the public.
$264,300 spent23% of program spendingThe remaining expenses are allocated to the support of other free literary and community programs with general operation expenses, and a 3,600 square foot park (the alphabet reading garden) that is open to the public.
$527,458 spent$1,509 earned by the program45% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,165,699.
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 2021 to 2022, from $9.0M to $5.4M (−40%).
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: 2017 38% · 2018 61% · 2019 59% · 2020 48% · 2021 21% · 2022 4% · 2023 6% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of CITY OF ASYLUM’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 8 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
Caroline Llewellyn
Executive director as of 1/24
Board chair
Ralph Henry Reese
Chair as of 12/23
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 25 funders, grant income rose $82k → $549k.
9 of 61 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 OF ASYLUM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 61 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
CITY OF ASYLUM has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 34% · 2019 37% · 2020 25% · 2021 33% · 2022 29% · 2023 18% — 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
39% of CITY OF ASYLUM's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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
63% of CITY OF ASYLUM's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M 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
CITY OF ASYLUM holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding CITY OF ASYLUM receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $355k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$255k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$100k
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 OF ASYLUM
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Alphabet City Inc · corp_trust
- Coa Sub Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CITY OF ASYLUM: 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 OF ASYLUM?
- CITY OF ASYLUM (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 61 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,042,441 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($900,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CITY OF ASYLUM have?
- IRS filings report 61 organizations giving $6,042,441 in grants to CITY OF ASYLUM, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CITY OF ASYLUM?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $900,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CITY OF ASYLUM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 of Asylum →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 61 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