California · Nonprofit
COMEDY GIVES BACK
COMEDY GIVES BACK (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $394,880 to it, the largest being JOHNNY CARSON FOUNDATION ($175,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $618k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $395k
- Net assets
- $478k
What Comedy Gives Back does
Mission
Comedy Gives Back is an organization that is dedicted to creating a safety net for stand-up comedians in need. (see schedule o for continuation)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
During the fiscal year 2024-2025, the Organization conducted the following activities and other notable achievements reflected below: - On August 18th conducted the 818 Brody Festival of Friendship - On November 14th conducted the New York Comedy Festival Show at Gotham - During January 2025 the Organization created a fire fund to help comedian who suffered from the LA fires and gave out 9 grants - On January 31, 2025 conducted the Atl Comedy All Stars - The Organization was the recipient of Bert Kreischers Fully Loaded Tour - The Organization provided 94 grants during the fiscal year.
$415,164 spentof which $198,553 as grants$634,531 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $415,164.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $79k to $231k (+193%).
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.
84% of COMEDY GIVES BACK’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 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
Zoe Friedman
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $15k → $80k.
5 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 COMEDY GIVES BACK’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
COMEDY GIVES BACK leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
46% 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 COMEDY GIVES BACK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 66% · 2022 39% · 2023 56% — 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
85% of COMEDY GIVES BACK's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $157k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
COMEDY GIVES BACK holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like COMEDY GIVES BACK
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
74%
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 COMEDY GIVES BACK: 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 COMEDY GIVES BACK?
- COMEDY GIVES BACK (California) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $394,880 to it, the largest being JOHNNY CARSON FOUNDATION ($175,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COMEDY GIVES BACK have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $394,880 in grants to COMEDY GIVES BACK, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMEDY GIVES BACK?
- JOHNNY CARSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $175,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMEDY GIVES BACK find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Comedy Gives Back →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2022–2025), and the filings of 11 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