Vermont · Nonprofit
GENERATOR INC
GENERATOR INC (Vermont) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,595,287 to it, the largest being RUTH & PETER METZ FAMILY FOUNDATION co THOMAS PHELAN ($972,550). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $946k
- Funders on record
- 23
- Grants received
- $2.6M
- Net assets
- $957k
What Generator Inc does
Mission
Generator is a combination of artist studio, classroom, and business incubator at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We provide tools, expertise, education and opportunity to enable all members of our community to create, collaborate, and to make their ideas reality. Generator provides youth stem/steam and work-based learning programs for youth around vermont; hands-on, experiential education for adults of all ages; and membership for shared workshops including wood, metal, jewelry, rapid prototyping, sewing, electronics, and a computer lab with design software.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Generator is an artist studio, classroom, and business incubator at the intersection of art, science, and technology. We provide the tools, expertise, education, and opportunity to enable every member of our community to create, collaborate, and make their ideas reality. In partnership with schools and community-based organizations, generator provides hands-on steam education (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) to increase exposure to steam careers and strengthen vermont's workforce development. We are currently building out makerspaces in middle and high schools throughout vermont and providing professional development for teachers in makertech ed. As an incubator and an accelerator, we offer two significant programs: artist-in-residence and jumpstart- a business bootcamp for product-based entrepreneurs. As a community space, we provide technologically advanced equipment paired with skill based education for people of all ages. We host free events, artist talks, and a speaking series that deepens dialogue and encourages, motivates, and inspires our community to think outside the box, launch businesses, share their ideas, engage with emerging technology, create,…
$784,869 spent$401,569 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $784,869.
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 $767k to $1.3M (+64%).
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 10% · 2022 4% · 2023 19% · 2024 10% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
56% of GENERATOR INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $264k → $289k.
5 of 23 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 27% 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 GENERATOR 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
GENERATOR INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% 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
35% 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 GENERATOR INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 61% · 2019 67% · 2020 31% · 2021 28% · 2022 23% · 2023 27% — 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
46% of GENERATOR INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
GENERATOR INC draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $708k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
GENERATOR INC's funding base is broadening — from 3 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,175 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding GENERATOR INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $164k on record.
- Other Repair & Maint Serv$87k
- Other Grants$46k
- Grants to Municipalities$21k
- Safety Supplies & Equipment$10k
- ChildCare COVID RestartStipend$277
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 GENERATOR 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 Vermont
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GENERATOR 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 GENERATOR INC?
- GENERATOR INC (Vermont) receives grants from 23 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,595,287 to it, the largest being RUTH & PETER METZ FAMILY FOUNDATION co THOMAS PHELAN ($972,550). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GENERATOR INC have?
- IRS filings report 23 organizations giving $2,595,287 in grants to GENERATOR INC, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GENERATOR INC?
- RUTH & PETER METZ FAMILY FOUNDATION co THOMAS PHELAN is the largest funder on record, with $972,550 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GENERATOR INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 Generator →
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 23 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