Rhode Island · Nonprofit
GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND
GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND (Rhode Island) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,277,900 to it, the largest being THE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($760,200). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $763k
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $2.3M
- Net assets
- $132k
What Grow Smart Rhode Island does
Mission
Grow Smart Rhode Island's mission is to lead and engage rhode islanders in advancing neighborhood revitalization, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunity for all.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
1) grow smart ri continued its stepped up communications strategy for two overriding purposes a.) to support an expanded fundraising capacity, and b.) to increase grow smart's influence with targeted opinion leaders, decision makers and the public.2) in 2024 we hired a very talented communications and event strategist ,caroline stevens as well as completing a new communications plan. The plan establishes a strategic, metrics-driven and systematic approach to grow smart ri communications. It includes several tools to guide and focus its execution, including a content calendar, target audience correlation chart, guidance for segmenting target audiences and a job description for recruiting the capacity to implement the plan. Our communications strategies now include earned media, social media (including digital story-telling and advertising), monthly general and main street focused electronic newsletters, email marketing, a main street podcast, events and highly targeted paid advertising.3) earned media: earned significant free media coverage in 2024 from a wide range of outlets, including the providence journal, boston globe, eco ri news, the ri current, the providence business…
$41,409 spent14% of program spending1.grow smart ri's 2024 power of place summit was by all accounts, including the post summit survey, very successful in energizing the smart growth movement, engaging our extensive set of community partners, strengthening those valuable relationships, promoting our key policy reform priorities, and optimizing the summit's fundraising potential.more than 330 people attended, a somewhat higher turnout than our last summit, bringing together the largest and most diverse gathering of community changemakers in rhode island. And thanks to the leadership of nick roach and the generosity of buff chace, we hosted a pre-summit reception atop the peerless lofts on thursday, may 2. This was primarily for sponsors and close supporters with a robust turnout of approximately 50 people who enjoyed the music, surroundings, refreshments and a keynote preview offered by gil penalosa. Financially, net surplus revenue from the summit exceeded our budget projection by nearly $5,000 - the surplus was $97,220 vs a projected $91,445. 2. Smart growth workshops were held for local officials and community stakeholders in late september of 2024. Local officials and community stakeholders from woonsocket to…
$112,397 spent38% of program spendingPublic policy: we organized our policy and program work in 2024 under the goals discussed below: a. Revitalized main streets and downtownsspecific 2024 deliverables /outputs on this front included: 1. Main street capacity building and technical assistance initiativesdeputy director and main street director jillian finkle secured a a $26,000 grant from commerce ri through the main street streetscape improvement fund (rhode island energy's commitment of $20,000 serves as the required match.) the grant supported a main street network kickoff event on november 16, 2024 and will support ongoing monthly main street roundtable programs the november 16 event was a kickoff breakfast at oasis international for a new main street ri network. Based on feedback from the 25 attendees at the event, we will help develop a main street ri network in 2025, providing 4 virtual and 2 in-person meetings for members of community groups working in commercial districts. We will invite one "host" community per meeting to lead a presentation, detailing their process on a specific project and/or a discussion based on a current challenge they are encountering. Among our 2024 main street virtual roundtables…
$141,975 spent48% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $295,781.
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 2023 to 2024, from $202k to $263k (+30%).
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 13% · 2024 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% 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.
Chief executive
J Scott Wolf
Executive director
Board chair
Michael L Friedman
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $139k → $323k.
6 of 34 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 GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 33% of grant income and the top three 74%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
53% 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 GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 55% · 2019 53% · 2020 54% · 2021 37% · 2022 27% · 2023 37% — broadly stable.
“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
25% of GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.0M 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
GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 17,953 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,953 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND
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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
47% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND: 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 GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND?
- GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND (Rhode Island) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,277,900 to it, the largest being THE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($760,200). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $2,277,900 in grants to GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND?
- THE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $760,200 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like GROW SMART RHODE ISLAND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Grow Smart Rhode Island →
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 34 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