Ohio · Nonprofit
DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND
DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND (Ohio) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $286,408 to it, the largest being DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE ($121,958). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $418k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $286k
- Net assets
- $83k
What Dress for Success Cleveland does
Mission
The mission of Dress for Success Cleveland is to empower women and to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024, DFSC increased its service outreach by 2.52% over the 63% growth achieved in 2023, reaching a total of 977 women served. This continued growth builds on the increase from 585 women served in 2022 to 953 in 2023. Our progress reflects the ongoing success of our meeting women where they are service delivery modelboth in physical outreach and in tailoring support to each womans developmental and individual needs.
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990.
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 2020 to 2021, from $114k to $196k (+72%).
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 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 17% · 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (55% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Melony Butler
CEO
Board chair
Diamond Adams
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $10k → $44k.
4 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 42% 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND’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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 81%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
88% 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 33% · 2020 95% · 2021 85% · 2022 72% · 2023 45% — 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $121k 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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND has grown faster than half of the 2,278 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,278 employment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% 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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND: 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 DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND?
- DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND (Ohio) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $286,408 to it, the largest being DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE ($121,958). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $286,408 in grants to DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND?
- DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE is the largest funder on record, with $121,958 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DRESS FOR SUCCESS CLEVELAND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Dress for Success Cleveland →
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 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing