New York · Nonprofit
GAMES FOR CHANGE INC
GAMES FOR CHANGE INC (New York) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,589,649 to it, the largest being DALIO FAMILY FUND INC ($1,860,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.4M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $8.6M
- Net assets
- $-359214
What Games for Change Inc does
Mission
To empower game creators and social innovators to drive real-world change by using games that help people to learn, improve their communities, and contribute to making the world a more equitable place.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Games for change learnstudent challengegames for change learn's flagship program, the games for change student challenge, is a national game design competition that invites youth to create digital games about issues impacting their communities. The program uses youth interest in video games to develop coding and digital design skills, as well as problem solving, collaboration, creativity, and other critical 21st century skills. The challenge is also a platform for amplifying student voices, empowering young people to imagine creative solutions to social problems, and to see themselves as engaged citizens and changemakers. Since its launch in 2015, the challenge has to date benefited over 900 educators and 50,000 youth, primarily students in title I public schools serving low-income communities. Almost half of participating students are female, more than 60% are students of color, and many are special needs students.game plangame plan is an intensive professional development experience for museum and stem educators focused on adding more game-like learning experiences to out-of-school-time programs. Educators in museums across the u.s. Are now adapting what they learn into their…
$1,135,413 spent$1,687,329 earned by the program31% of program spendingEventsfestivalthe organization produces the games for change festival (the "festival"), which is the biggest gaming event in new york city. It brings together leaders from government, corporations, civil society, media, academia and the gaming industry to explore the increasing real-world impact of digital games as an agent for social change. The festival is also a showcase for some of the most innovative new games in production.
$1,264,732 spent$676,967 earned by the program35% of program spendingOther projects & programsconsulting and workshopsthe organization offers a suite of services to guide organizations and individuals that are actively pursuing computer and video games to further their public, philanthropic or academic mission. The services seek to lift up the field of social impact games and can range from the modest to the comprehensive via a concept consultation and workshop to plan and scope game related projects.raising good gamersraising good gamers (rgg) is a partnership between games for change and take this that empowers young people to shape the culture of online game communities, creating prosocial spaces that are inclusive, healthy, and that counter online toxicity. The goal of rgg is to develop a cross-sector research and practice community with youth at the center, in order to create a sustainable movement that can change the culture of online gaming for everyone.
$1,207,157 spent33% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,607,302.
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 $1.4M to $324k (−77%).
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 8% · 2021 6% · 2023 10% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
46% of GAMES FOR CHANGE INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% 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.
Board chair
Asi Burak
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 16 funders, grant income rose $20k → $1.4M.
12 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 GAMES FOR CHANGE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
GAMES FOR CHANGE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% 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
75% 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 GAMES FOR CHANGE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 99% · 2019 57% · 2020 48% · 2021 31% · 2022 27% · 2023 18% — 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
54% of GAMES FOR CHANGE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 51% 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
GAMES FOR CHANGE INC draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
GAMES FOR CHANGE INC has grown faster than half of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding GAMES FOR CHANGE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.6M on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$712k
- Department of State$520k
- National Endowment for the Arts$330k
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 GAMES FOR CHANGE 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
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 GAMES FOR CHANGE 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 GAMES FOR CHANGE INC?
- GAMES FOR CHANGE INC (New York) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,589,649 to it, the largest being DALIO FAMILY FUND INC ($1,860,000). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GAMES FOR CHANGE INC have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $8,589,649 in grants to GAMES FOR CHANGE INC, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GAMES FOR CHANGE INC?
- DALIO FAMILY FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,860,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GAMES FOR CHANGE INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Games for Change →
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 35 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