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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

COMMONLIT INC

COMMONLIT INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,384,637 to it, the largest being TENACRE FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$16M
Funders on record
30
Grants received
$29M
Net assets
$-310960
14/30 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 67%
01What it does

What Commonlit Inc does

Mission

To make high-quality literacy materials accessible to teachers and the general public for the advancement of education.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. Education: delivery of high-quality, instructional material to support literacy development for students in grades 3-12.

    $17,702,343 spent$9,097,709 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $17,702,343.

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 ($2.5M) Expenses 100 ($2.2M) Net assets 100 ($447k)2018 Revenue 260 ($6.6M) Expenses 160 ($3.6M) Net assets 778 ($3.5M)2019 Revenue 164 ($4.2M) Expenses 198 ($4.4M) Net assets 726 ($3.2M)2020 Revenue 259 ($6.6M) Expenses 235 ($5.2M) Net assets 1028 ($4.6M)2021 Revenue 360 ($9.2M) Expenses 318 ($7.1M) Net assets 1536 ($6.9M)2022 Revenue 467 ($12M) Expenses 492 ($11M) Net assets 1743 ($7.8M)2023 Revenue 545 ($14M) Expenses 773 ($17M) Net assets 994 ($4.4M)2024 Revenue 624 ($16M) Expenses 927 ($21M) Net assets -70 ($-310960)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (624)Expenses (927)Net assets (-70)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 2017 to 2018, from $576k to $3.7M (+537%).

$576k
$3.7M
$3.7M
$5.7M
$8.4M
$11M
$13M
$12M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 84% · 2018 26% · 2019 34% · 2020 16% · 2021 23% · 2023 7% · 2024 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

41% of COMMONLIT INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,251 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$317k
’17
$3.0M
’18
−$233k
’19
$1.3M
’20
$2.1M
’21
$927k
’22
−$3.3M
’23
−$4.8M
’24
0.6
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.

Chief executive

Michelle Brown

President & CEO

Board chair

Jason Atwood

Board chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed108111617171219
Joined·+2+4+6+4+3+4+11
No longer listed·4113394
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $50k → $5.9M.

11 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 COMMONLIT 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

COMMONLIT INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% 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

53% 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 COMMONLIT INC.

17%
largest funder
45%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 93% · 2019 56% · 2020 46% · 2021 27% · 2022 42% · 2023 42% — 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

19% of COMMONLIT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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

COMMONLIT INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 10 states in all.

WA
NY
PA
NJ
CA
CO
MD
DC
GA
TX

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

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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

COMMONLIT INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 4,064 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−30% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.6mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)30% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,064 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding COMMONLIT INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.1M on record — $9.0M federal, $125k state.

Federal$9.0M
grants $9.0Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
22
Top agencies
  • Department of Education$9.0M
State$125k
22
23
24
25
26
By state
  • DE$125k
  • FL$22

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 COMMONLIT 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 Washington, D.C.

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

86% of spending goes to programs.

Program 86%Management 12%Fundraising 3%

Governance

7
board members
71%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

56%

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 COMMONLIT 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 COMMONLIT INC?
COMMONLIT INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,384,637 to it, the largest being TENACRE FOUNDATION ($5,000,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does COMMONLIT INC have?
IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $29,384,637 in grants to COMMONLIT INC, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of COMMONLIT INC?
TENACRE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like COMMONLIT INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Commonlit →

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 30 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