New York · Nonprofit
DEFY VENTURES INC
DEFY VENTURES INC (New York) receives grants from 145 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,657,524 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,077,521). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.6M
- Funders on record
- 145
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $2.9M
What Defy Ventures Inc does
Mission
Defy ventures' mission is to shift mindsets to give people with criminal histories their best shot at a second chance by providing them with personal development, career readiness, and entrepreneurship training. Defy's vision is to cut the recidivism rate in half by leveraging entrepreneurship to increase economic opportunity and transform lives.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
We're proud of defy's results and are excited to show supporters the results of their investment of time and funding. Since the launch of our program in january 2012, defy has:1. Served nearly 10,000 entrepreneurs in training (eits) in our in-prison and post-release program. Eits complete a rigorous six- to nine-month curriculum culminating in a business pitch competition and graduation as part of the in-prison program. The post-release program includes workshops, mentoring, and a business incubator.2. Engaged 8,500+ executive volunteers, including volunteers from hedge funds, investment banks, venture capital and private equity firms, fortune 500 companies, and entrepreneurial ventures. Volunteers served as business pitch competition judges, mentors, and resume coaches.3. Grown to serve in nine states (ca, ct, il, nj, ny, pa, ut, wa, wi).4. Recorded a one year recidivism rate of less than 10%, and a three-year recidivism rate of less than 15%.5. Launched 215+ businesses, including incorporation and seed funding.6. Raised over $37 million in private & public funding since inception (2010).
$3,441,526 spentof which $129,610 as grants$96,133 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,441,526.
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 2017 to 2018, from $3.1M to $834k (−73%).
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 3% · 2018 4% · 2019 10% · 2020 16% · 2021 22% · 2022 14% · 2023 36% · 2024 17%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of DEFY VENTURES INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Andrew Glazier
President & CEO
Board chair
Brian Korb
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 40 funders to 41 funders, grant income fell $1.7M → $1.2M.
37 of 145 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 DEFY VENTURES INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 145 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
DEFY VENTURES INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 10% of grant income, and it takes 12 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 12 funders to its left
59% 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 DEFY VENTURES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 15% · 2018 15% · 2019 20% · 2020 13% · 2021 15% · 2022 19% · 2023 10% — 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
18% of DEFY VENTURES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% 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
51% of DEFY VENTURES INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $5.2M that is directly attributable, 86% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 27 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.4M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
DEFY VENTURES INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding DEFY VENTURES INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.3M on record — $1.2M federal, $123k state.
- Department of Commerce$1.2M
- NJ$121k
- CT$1k
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 DEFY VENTURES 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 7 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DEFY VENTURES 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.
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 DEFY VENTURES INC?
- DEFY VENTURES INC (New York) receives grants from 145 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,657,524 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,077,521). 63 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DEFY VENTURES INC have?
- IRS filings report 145 organizations giving $10,657,524 in grants to DEFY VENTURES INC, 63 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DEFY VENTURES INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,077,521 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DEFY VENTURES 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.
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 145 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