New York · Nonprofit
DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC
DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC (New York) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,624,350 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $3.6M
- Net assets
- $226k
What Democracy for the Arab World Now Inc does
Mission
Democracy for the arab world now (dawn) is a nonprofit organization that supports democracy and human rights in the middle east and north africa (mena). Our vision is for a world where the human rights, liberty, and dignity of every person in the middle east and north africa are upheld by democratically elected governments, safeguarded by independent institutions and civil society organizations working under the rule of law, and supported by international governments and institutions around the world. Our goal is to ensure that u.s. Foreign policy supports the people in mena by ending support for their abusive, undemocratic governments.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
2024 was a year of seminal successes for dawn, garnering significant impact and recognition for our efforts in pursuit of justice and accountability in the middle east and north africa, raising the visibility of the organization as a leading center for aggressive, results-oriented projects, articulating policy recommendations that successfully resonated with the broader community, broadcasting the voices and viewpoints of activists and experts from the region into foreign policy discussions and decision-making, and succeeding in presenting dawn as the leading progressive mena foreign policy organization in washington dc. The dawn staff carried out truly impressive work, issuing 46 press releases and 29 press advisories, 97 articles and six interviews with newsmakers for democracy in exile, and 30 public speaking engagements.
$1,018,816 spent$153,286 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,018,816.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2021 to 2022, from $120k to $527k (+340%).
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.
91% of DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Sarah L Whitson
Exec. Dir./secretary
Board chair
Nihad Awad
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $325k → $893k.
4 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW 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
DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 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 DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2022 54% · 2023 37% — 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
40% of DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 46% 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
76% of DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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
DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,607 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,607 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW 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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
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 DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW 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 DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC?
- DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC (New York) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,624,350 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($1,000,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $3,624,350 in grants to DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW INC?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DEMOCRACY FOR THE ARAB WORLD NOW 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 Democracy for the Arab World Now →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 13 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