New York · Nonprofit
GLSEN INC
GLSEN INC (New York) receives grants from 189 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,859,238 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($6,085,750). 93 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 189
- Grants received
- $19M
- Net assets
- $4.8M
What Glsen Inc does
Mission
Glsen works to make k-12 education inclusive safe & affirming for all students because no young person should have to choose between their wellbeing and an education. Glsen's programs, campaigns, and initiatives improve education experiences and life outcomes for students by clearing a path to leadership, transforming the school systems, and ensuring that all students have access to an education in an environment free from harassment and discrimination.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Communications and public voice department provides the public, press and glsen constituents with regular communications and creates marketing and promotional materials about glsen, inc.'s mission and efforts to create safe and affirming k-12 learning communities that ensure all students, including lgbtq+ young people, in the u.s. Education system can thrive and reach their full potential. The department provides the public, media and glsen constituents information regarding glsen's mission and programs. The department develops effective messaging, trains spokespeople to effectively discuss glsen's issues, places media stories across all platforms, develops marketing and communications campaigns for glsen's public education campaigns, resources and programs. Public policy department advocates directly with public officials at all levels of government and within coalitions for policy and legislative change that will create and support safe and affirming school environments for all students, particularly those who are lgbgtq+, transgender, nonbinary, black, indigenous, people of color, people with disabilities and from other communities that experience marginalization.
$1,389,309 spentof which $50 as grants24% of program spendingGlsen's education program department and youth programs department mobilize educators and lgbtq+ young people in schools to advocate for positive school transformation and the implementation of best practices that advance racial, gender, and disability justice outcomes in k-12 education systems. The department provides technical assistance and capacity-building support for program development and advocacy on lgbtq+ issues in schools (educator guides, curricular resources, training and educator/student led initiatives) that enhance educator and student capacity to create affirming and lgbtq+ inclusive classrooms and schools that glsen envisions.the department supports the strength and impact of youth-led initiatives including student clubs (commonly known as ""gsas"", gender & sexuality alliances or gay-straigh alliances), the well-known national days of action, including day of silence and solidarity week, glsen's national student council, and our signature resources that include changing the game, safe space kit (glsen's guide to being an ally to lgbtq+ students), and ""ready, set, respect!"" glsen's elementary school toolkit.glsen's education program department and youth…
$620,791 spentof which $32,647 as grants11% of program spendingThe department of research and best practices conducts original research, analyzes data and advocates nationally and locally for systems to apply our research on the experience of lgbtq+ young people in k-12 schools and educational best practices. The department issues constituent engagement strategies that advance glsen's work to create safe, inclusive and affirming k-12 schools for lgbtq+ youth. Including glsen's biennial survey of lgbtq+ students, the national school climate survey, now in its 25th year. The department evaluates glsen programs and recommends efforts to improve glsen's education and youth programs. The department produces research-based recommendations to improve school climate, and provides tools and technical assistance to government agencies, educators, students and local advocates to conduct research in order to document student experiences, improve school climate, and student wellbeing and success across the country.research primary and secondary education. In partnership with other glsen departments, the research institute organizes internal and partner capacity to engage with multilateral processes and international institutions to further norms of…
$316,525 spentof which $50 as grants5% of program spendingCommunity mobilization department provides capacity building support, technical assistance, and strategic planning guidance to volunteers, chapter leaders and community-based advocates working to create safe, affirming and inclusive schools in their communities. These volunteers, chapter leaders and advocates include over 34 accredited chapters that work to realize glsen's mission at the community level. The glsen community mobilization department oversees and manages the chapter network. The chapter network works directly with school administrators, educators, students, and community partners to deliver programming to advance positive school transformation where schools are at minimum safe and ultimately places of liberation for all young people. Chapters provide direct training for educators and hold events that convene student gsas and other constituencies to build their capacity to improve school climate. They also conduct initiatives to increase awareness of glsen's mission and fundraise to support their local work. Executive department sets glsen's strategic direction and supervises its programmatic work. The national collaborations developed by the executive team amplify…
$3,449,256 spentof which $63,087 as grants$158,914 earned by the program60% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,775,881.
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 2019 to 2020, from $6.4M to $13M (+97%).
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 2% · 2025 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of GLSEN INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% 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
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers
Executive director
Board chair
Wilson Cruz
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 32 funders to 52 funders, grant income rose $596k → $2.5M.
38 of 189 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 68% 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 GLSEN INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 189 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
GLSEN INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 32% 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
72% 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 GLSEN INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 36% · 2019 24% · 2020 77% · 2021 16% · 2022 18% · 2023 60% — 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
27% of GLSEN INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
68% of GLSEN INC'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 $6.1M that is directly attributable, 84% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 29 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $13M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
GLSEN INC is better cushioned than half of the 479 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 479 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding GLSEN INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $96k on record.
- DISTRIBUTION TO NON-GOVERNMENTS$96k
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 GLSEN 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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
76%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 31 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for GLSEN 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 GLSEN INC?
- GLSEN INC (New York) receives grants from 189 organizations whose IRS filings report $18,859,238 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($6,085,750). 93 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 68% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does GLSEN INC have?
- IRS filings report 189 organizations giving $18,859,238 in grants to GLSEN INC, 93 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GLSEN INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $6,085,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GLSEN 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.
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 189 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing