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New York · Nonprofit

CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC

CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC (New York) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $662,665 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($265,550). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$172k
Funders on record
22
Grants received
$663k
Net assets
$176k
9/22 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 63%
01What it does

What Clowns Without Borders Inc does

Mission

Bring laughter & joy to conflict and crisis areas.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Turkey - following the devastation of 2023 earthquake, cwb created an original performance where women played starring roles organizing, performing, and challenging societal gender normas. They proved that humor can be a powerful tool for many types of transformation. The team of 3 turkish and 1 american artists performed 16 times for a total of 3,431 beneficiaries.

    $20,750 spent
    10% of program spending
  2. Egypt - cwb led a capacity building workshop for egyptian artists and performed for marginalized communities in egypt, including street children, refugees, and trash collectors where they trackled issues of climate change with a focus on forcibly displaced communities. The program included 8 workshops and 10 shows. There were a total of 730 people served.

    $10,061 spent
    5% of program spending
  3. Zimbabwe cwb collaborated with the zimbabwe theatre academy and performed for 6717 refugees in tongogara refugee camp. The team also presented workshops, a panel discussion, and a performance at the mitambu international theatre festival (harare).

    $18,667 spent
    9% of program spending
  4. See schedule o description

    $154,598 spent
    76% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $204,076.

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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($138k) Expenses 100 ($121k) Net assets 100 ($103k)2018 Revenue 89 ($124k) Expenses 104 ($126k) Net assets 98 ($101k)2019 Revenue 85 ($117k) Expenses 101 ($122k) Net assets 91 ($94k)2020 Revenue 81 ($112k) Expenses 69 ($83k) Net assets 119 ($122k)2021 Revenue 98 ($136k) Expenses 94 ($113k) Net assets 142 ($145k)2022 Revenue 190 ($263k) Expenses 206 ($249k) Net assets 156 ($160k)2023 Revenue 122 ($169k) Expenses 163 ($197k) Net assets 128 ($132k)2024 Revenue 232 ($321k) Expenses 174 ($210k) Net assets 236 ($243k)2025 Revenue 124 ($172k) Expenses 198 ($239k) Net assets 171 ($176k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (124)Expenses (198)Net assets (171)Peer revenue range

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 $132k to $243k (+84%).

$105k
$101k
$95k
$133k
$145k
$161k
$132k
$243k
$180k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
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
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2023 95% · 2024 99% · 2025 50%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

99% of CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$18k
’17
−$2k
’18
−$4k
’19
$29k
’20
$23k
’21
$15k
’22
−$29k
’23
$111k
’24
−$67k
’25
8.9
months of
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.

2022202320242025
Listed107710
Joined·+1+2+3
No longer listed·420
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $22k → $73k.

6 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS 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

CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

45% 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 CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC.

40%
largest funder
74%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 95% · 2018 30% · 2019 50% · 2020 88% · 2021 89% · 2022 30% · 2023 69% — 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

30% of CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC draws 79% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 10 states in all.

NH
IL
NY
MA
OH
PA
CT
MD
DC
TX

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $298k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC is better cushioned than half of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−39% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve8.9mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)3% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Organizations like CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS 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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

85% of spending goes to programs.

Program 85%Management 12%Fundraising 3%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
–Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

99%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS 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 CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC?
CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC (New York) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $662,665 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($265,550). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC have?
IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $662,665 in grants to CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS INC?
DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $265,550 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CLOWNS WITHOUT BORDERS 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 Clowns Without Borders →

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 22 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