Texas · Nonprofit
FOREST FORWARD
FOREST FORWARD (Texas) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,431,939 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($9,524,051). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $15M
- Funders on record
- 47
- Grants received
- $32M
- Net assets
- $30M
What Forest Forward does
Mission
Forest Forward works with the community to combat the causes and effects of systemic inequities through neighborhood revitalization that centers efforts to accelerate the advancement of marginalized people. The centerpoint of the project is the restoration and renovation of the historic Forest Theater in South Dallas.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
FOREST THEATER PROJECT PRESERVING OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY AND PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY, THE FOREST THEATER, ONCE KNOWN FOR ITS MARQUEE AND BECKONING LIGHTS, WILL BE RESTORED, YIELDING 45,000 SQUARE FEET DEDICATED TO FOUR CRITICAL SPACES: CONCERT HALL CREATIVE LABORATORY-13,000 SQUARE FEET OF SPACE TO HOUSE MOVEMENT AND RECORDING STUDIO, FLEX SPACE, RESOURCE CENTER, SENSORY IMMERSION ROOM, ARTIST CLASSROOMS, AND LABS ROOF DECK STUDIO THEATER Forest Theater groundbreaking was in April 2024. This officially launched the beginning of an $80m renovation and restoration project, with opening slated for mid-2026. The theater will be a centerpiece of this revitalized South Dallas neighborhood (located three blocks from the MLK Jr. Arts Academy).CRADLE TO COLLEGE EDUCATION PATHWAY & COMMUNITY OUTREACH - A MULTI-YEAR PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED TO ADVANCE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BY PROVIDING STUDENT ACCESS TO THE RESTORED FOREST THEATER AND ITS COMPONENT FEATURES SUCH AS THE SENSORY IMMERSION ROOM, STUDIO THEATER WITH ABILITY TO CONVERT FOR ANIMATION AND CGI TECHNOLOGY, AND PODCAST, BROADCAST, AND RECORDING STUDIO. THROUGH THIS…
$1,557,583 spentof which $62,886 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,557,583.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $11M to $24M (+127%).
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.
100% of FOREST FORWARD’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 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
Elizabeth Wattley
President & CEO
Board chair
Matrice Ellis-Kirk
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $2.2M → $10M.
8 of 47 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 31% 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 FOREST FORWARD’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 47 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
FOREST FORWARD leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
33% 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 FOREST FORWARD.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 74% · 2022 34% · 2023 60% — 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.
Where its funders are
72% of FOREST FORWARD's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10.0M 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
FOREST FORWARD runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 659 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 659 community improvement nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding FOREST FORWARD receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.0M on record.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development$4.0M
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 FOREST FORWARD
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
46% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Harold & Lois LLC · disregarded
- Forest Theater LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FOREST FORWARD: 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 FOREST FORWARD?
- FOREST FORWARD (Texas) receives grants from 47 organizations whose IRS filings report $32,431,939 to it, the largest being COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC ($9,524,051). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FOREST FORWARD have?
- IRS filings report 47 organizations giving $32,431,939 in grants to FOREST FORWARD, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FOREST FORWARD?
- COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC is the largest funder on record, with $9,524,051 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FOREST FORWARD find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Forest Forward →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 47 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