Connecticut · Nonprofit
ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND
ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND (Connecticut) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $948,507 to it, the largest being THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($549,160). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $333k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $949k
- Net assets
- $807k
What Endangered Language Fund does
Mission
Support for the documentation and revitalization of languages in danger of ceasing to be spoken grants to researchers and communities hosting grants funded by national science foundation
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Native Voices Endowment ELF provides grants for eligible tribes and languages through the Native Voices Endowment: A Lewis & Clark Expedition Bicentennial Legacy. These funds come from the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council, which received the revenues from the U.S. Mint's sale of the Lewis and Clark 2004 Commemorative Coin. Grants through this program are available to members of the Native American tribes that came in contact with the Lewis and Clark Expedition between 1803-1806. Grants are available for work on documentation and revitalization of the languages of these tribes see below for list of eligible tribes and languages. Applicants Principal Investigators must be enrolled tribal members or employees of tribal colleges. Scholarships for academic work in linguistics or a Native language, or for Master/Apprentice programs are also available for tribal members.
$116,759 spentof which $101,638 as grants42% of program spendingThe 56th iteration of the Algonquian Conference was held at the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, 24-27 October, 2024. This series of conferences brings together academic linguists and tribal language activists (with some attendees being both) to discuss issues in the structure and use of Algonquian languages throughout North America. There were 182 attendees, the majority of whom registered for the conference as a whole; 37 registered just for the banquet at which language activists from Oklahoma Algonquian tribes were honored. The presentations and attendance at the conference highlighted the continuing increase in the number and size of language revitalization programs, as well as the relevance of the linguistic insights into the various languages these programs support.
$112,900 spentof which $60,378 as grants40% of program spendingLanguage Legacies The Language Legacies grant program supports documentation and revitalization efforts throughout the world. It is open to community members and researchers from any country with the exception of those who are eligible for our Native Voices Endowment NVE grants. An academic degree is not required, but the application must provide evidence that the applicant can achieve the stated goals. Grants are for one year and average around $2,000 US.
$50,797 spentof which $32,303 as grants18% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $280,456.
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 $503k to $762k (+51%).
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: 2021 16% · 2024 42%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Douglas H Whalen
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $74k → $97k.
6 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 97% 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 ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND’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
ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 88% · 2018 83% · 2019 87% · 2020 64% · 2021 79% · 2022 74% · 2023 77% — 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
38% of ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
97% of ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND'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 $30k that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Connecticut, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $918k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $562k on record.
- National Science Foundation$562k
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 ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND
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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND: 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 ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND?
- ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND (Connecticut) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $948,507 to it, the largest being THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($549,160). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 97% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $948,507 in grants to ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND?
- THE OREGON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $549,160 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ENDANGERED LANGUAGE FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. 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 12 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