Massachusetts · Nonprofit
FIRST LITERACY INC
FIRST LITERACY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,150,032 to it, the largest being MANTON FOUNDATION ($300,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $670k
- Funders on record
- 30
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What First Literacy Inc does
Mission
Funding innovation in adult literacy to change lives. We do this by: offering free best practice workshops for teachers and other adult education professionals; encouraging, supporting, and sharing innovative practices, curriculum and resources through our first literacy lab program grant initiative; and awarding scholarships and providing support for adult learners who are starting college.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Professional development workshops provide adult educators with information and resources on evidence-based teaching methodology and curriculum design, cross-cultural issues, and student assessment approaches relevant to the adult education classroom. Teachers who participate in workshops, facilitated by knowledgeable peers or expert consultants, are supported in trying out new ideas in their classroom and sharing their experiences with peers on site and at follow-up workshops.
$529,860 spentof which $75,044 as grants100% of program spendingScholarships and support for adult learners who have successfully completed basic studies in an abe program and are pursuing college or technical education are eligible for a first literacy scholarship. Recipients are awarded scholarships in recognition of their educational achievements and potential, their commitment to community service, and their resiliency and perseverance in the face of hardship. To sustain this ongoing learning community, we host scholar networking evenings, invite scholars to all first literacy events, ask interested scholars to speak at events, and first literacy representatives attend all community and educational events where our scholars are honored. We also look for ways in which we can more deeply involve the scholars with the broader community and cultural life of our city.
First literacy offers small grants to adult basic education programs to improve practice and to strengthen programs. The flexibility of these grants allows programs to meet emerging student needs in a timely fashion. The grants also allow venues such aslibraries and volunteer organizations to introduce or expand their services to immigrants. Recipients of first literacy grants share the results of their work with the greater abe community at an annual event and are supported and mentored to become facilitators ofworkshops for abe teachers.
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $529,860.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.7M to $1.3M (−23%).
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 8% · 2022 9% · 2023 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
47% of FIRST LITERACY INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 9 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
Theresa B Witherell
Executive director
Board chair
James Nolan
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $24k → $173k.
10 of 30 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 FIRST LITERACY 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
FIRST LITERACY INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% 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
47% 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 FIRST LITERACY INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 48% · 2018 59% · 2019 24% · 2020 23% · 2021 28% · 2022 32% · 2023 58% — growing more concentrated.
“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
56% of FIRST LITERACY INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
FIRST LITERACY INC draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $512k arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
FIRST LITERACY INC's funding base is broadening — from 4 funders to 11 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FIRST LITERACY 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 FIRST LITERACY 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 FIRST LITERACY INC?
- FIRST LITERACY INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 30 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,150,032 to it, the largest being MANTON FOUNDATION ($300,000). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FIRST LITERACY INC have?
- IRS filings report 30 organizations giving $1,150,032 in grants to FIRST LITERACY INC, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRST LITERACY INC?
- MANTON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRST LITERACY INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 30 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