New York · Nonprofit
DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE
DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE (New York) receives grants from 151 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,961,508 to it, the largest being Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation ($1,902,013). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 151
- Grants received
- $9.0M
- Net assets
- $9.1M
What Dress for Success Worldwide does
Mission
Dress for success supports unemployed and underemployed women to achieve economic independence and thrive in work and in life.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In 2024, programs included implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks, strengthening affiliate governance policies, and providing technical assistance for program implementation and compliance. Dsw facilitates affiliate engagement through leadership conferences, regional roundtables, and digital platforms for resource sharing and collaboration. The organization also manages centralized disbursement of designated funding and in-kind contributions from donors, while overseeing global brand management, impact measurement, and affiliate standards.dsw centrally manages programmatic partnerships and initiatives that support affiliates in delivering workforce development services globally. Areas of focus include career readiness, skill-building, peer support, and access to professional attire. In 2024, dsw expanded initiatives in entrepreneurship, mental health and well-being, and financial literacy, while also enhancing the dress for success online community. The platform continues to serve as a centralized hub for client resources, digital programming, and virtual connection between affiliates and the women they serve.
$11,131,558 spentof which $1,934,953 as grants$1,673,000 earned by the program90% of program spendingThrough service hubs in new york city and chicago, dsw provides direct programming to unemployed and under employed women seeking career advancement and financial stability. Offerings include professional attire, career coaching, employment retention, digital literacy, and financial education. Services are delivered both in-person and online using individual and cohort-based models tailored to the needs of each community. Programs emphasize trauma-informed practices and support participants through job search, placement, and career growth. In alignment with the strategic plan, the chicago hub officially spun off as an independent affiliate in october 2024.
$1,214,418 spent$100,000 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,345,976.
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 2022 to 2023, from $8.9M to $13M (+47%).
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: 2020 0% · 2021 4% · 2022 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Michele Meyer-Shipp
CEO
Board chair
Erica Frontero
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 23 funders to 46 funders, grant income rose $227k → $1.7M.
24 of 151 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 WORLDWIDE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 151 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
DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
60% 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 WORLDWIDE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 33% · 2019 23% · 2020 26% · 2021 25% · 2022 19% · 2023 20% — 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
28% of DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 39% 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 WORLDWIDE draws 92% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 29 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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 WORLDWIDE's funding base is broadening — from 23 funders to 46 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
82%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 31 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE: 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 WORLDWIDE?
- DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE (New York) receives grants from 151 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,961,508 to it, the largest being Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation ($1,902,013). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE have?
- IRS filings report 151 organizations giving $8,961,508 in grants to DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE?
- Ulta Beauty Charitable Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,902,013 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DRESS FOR SUCCESS WORLDWIDE 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 151 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