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Mississippi · Nonprofit

DEEP SOUTH TODAY

DEEP SOUTH TODAY (Mississippi) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,837,851 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($4,750,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$9.5M
Funders on record
59
Grants received
$22M
Net assets
$11M
29/59 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Deep South Today does

Mission

Deep South Today is a nonprofit network of local newsrooms comprising mississippi today and verite news. With its regional scale and scope, Deep South Today is providing critical journalism in underserved areas and ensuring its long-term growth and sustainability.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Mississippi today was awarded the 2023 pulitzer prize for local reporting. It is the state's flagship nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, offering indepth investigative and enterprise reporting from all corners of the state. There is no cost to read its reporting, listen to its podcasts, or access its data sets. The journalism produced by mississippi today increases accountability among elected officials, government agencies and community leaders. Its reporting in the areas of community health, politics, education, criminal justice, workforce, and poverty has been especially impactful, providing insight and explanation of systemic issues and corruption that have long gone unreported.

    $2,851,410 spent$66,120 earned by the program
    75% of program spending
  2. Verite news produces in-depth journalism that serves the region in and around new orleans, while also educating, developing, and mentoring a new generation of journalists. Verite news at no cost provides its readers with the information they need to understand the economic, social and political issues in their communities and beyond. With an editorial focus on the civic and cultural communities in new orleans, verite news reports on the events and personalities shaping the life of the city.

    $949,449 spent
    25% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,800,859.

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 ($542k) Expenses 100 ($1.6M) Net assets 100 ($1.7M)2018 Revenue 390 ($2.1M) Expenses 111 ($1.7M) Net assets 122 ($2.1M)2019 Revenue 288 ($1.6M) Expenses 127 ($2.0M) Net assets 96 ($1.6M)2020 Revenue 469 ($2.5M) Expenses 125 ($2.0M) Net assets 131 ($2.2M)2021 Revenue 956 ($5.2M) Expenses 141 ($2.2M) Net assets 308 ($5.2M)2022 Revenue 871 ($4.7M) Expenses 228 ($3.6M) Net assets 375 ($6.3M)2023 Revenue 1129 ($6.1M) Expenses 328 ($5.2M) Net assets 433 ($7.3M)2024 Revenue 1748 ($9.5M) Expenses 359 ($5.6M) Net assets 661 ($11M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (1748)Expenses (359)Net assets (661)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 $7.7M to $11M (+49%).

$1.7M
$2.1M
$1.7M
$2.5M
$5.2M
$6.7M
$7.7M
$11M
'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: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

96% of DEEP SOUTH TODAY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,395 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$1.0M
’17
$369k
’18
−$431k
’19
$587k
’20
$3.0M
’21
$1.1M
’22
$972k
’23
$3.8M
’24
15
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.

Board chair

Andrew Lack

Executive chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1313111413141517
Joined·+1+1+3+1+2+5+2
No longer listed·1302140
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $1.0M → $4.0M.

12 of 59 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 DEEP SOUTH TODAY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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

DEEP SOUTH TODAY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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

35% 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 DEEP SOUTH TODAY.

22%
largest funder
45%
top three
~10
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 32% · 2019 25% · 2020 27% · 2021 37% · 2022 34% · 2023 19% — 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

33% of DEEP SOUTH TODAY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

DEEP SOUTH TODAY draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Mississippi, across 15 states in all.

WA
MI
NY
MA
IN
PA
CT
CA
MD
AR
DC
LA
MS
GA
FL

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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

DEEP SOUTH TODAY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin41% · top quartile
Months of reserve14.8mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)50% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like DEEP SOUTH TODAY

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 Mississippi

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

67% of spending goes to programs.

Program 67%Management 22%Fundraising 11%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

92%

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

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 39 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DEEP SOUTH TODAY: 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 DEEP SOUTH TODAY?
DEEP SOUTH TODAY (Mississippi) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $21,837,851 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($4,750,000). 29 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does DEEP SOUTH TODAY have?
IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $21,837,851 in grants to DEEP SOUTH TODAY, 29 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of DEEP SOUTH TODAY?
THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like DEEP SOUTH TODAY find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Mississippi. 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 Deep South Today →

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 59 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing