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New York · Nonprofit

Higher Heights Leadership Fund

Higher Heights Leadership Fund (New York) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,632,718 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($744,250). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$948k
Funders on record
54
Grants received
$6.6M
Net assets
$217k
24/54 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Higher Heights Leadership Fund does

Mission

Our mission is to equip Black women to amplify their individual and collective political engagement power, and leadership capacity to improve the lives of Black people and strengthen American democracy.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Strategic Planning Conducted strategic planning process and tactical plans to accelerate the growth, impact and Strategic Planning - Lead the development of a comprehensive strategic planning process and devising tactical plans to accelerate the growth, impact and sustainability of Black womens political power and leadership over the next 10 years.

    $62,299 spent
    4% of program spending
  2. Strategic Communications/Digital Campaigns/Research Creating an environment for Black women to lead through research cultural Shifting communications work, and digital campaigns. Develop on and offline communications to help elevate Black womens voices and help shape the national narrative about Black women in American politics. Accomplished through the development of website content, production of Sunday Brunch Series, FacebookLive and Twitter chat events and seeking to expand earned media opportunities. Compile, conduct and release research on Black womens political and civic leadership.

    $446,937 spent
    27% of program spending
  3. Convenings & Events Host events, townhalls and conversations that gather Black women in communities to discuss issues concerning Black women and their families. Events and convenings create spaces for Black women to be informed, engaged and to take action that will expand Black womens civic engagement beyond the voting booth, to increasing the number of Black women pursuing elected leadership.

    $202,395 spent
    12% of program spending
  4. #BlackWomenVote #BlackWomenVote, a nonpartisan voter-activism campaign powered by Higher Heights is the leading, independent and trusted voice for Black women leading up to 2022 and beyond. #BlackWomenVote provides the latest election news, commentary and tools for Black women to prepare to vote, and get out the vote within their social networks.

    $346,882 spent
    21% of program spending
  5. Outreach and Partnership Expand relationships with national and local partners to expand Higher Heights reach to support programming and attend convenings and meetings.

    $101,692 spent
    6% of program spending
  6. Network Developing a network of Black women and allies and providing members with education, training, and tools to harness their political power. Create on and offline activities and networking opportunities to help Black women lead.

    $472,115 spent
    29% of program spending

The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,632,320.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($261k) Expenses 100 ($192k) Net assets 100 ($73k)2018 Revenue 234 ($613k) Expenses 275 ($529k) Net assets 215 ($157k)2019 Revenue 167 ($436k) Expenses 218 ($420k) Net assets 237 ($173k)2020 Revenue 678 ($1.8M) Expenses 751 ($1.4M) Net assets 722 ($527k)2021 Revenue 534 ($1.4M) Expenses 538 ($1.0M) Net assets 1214 ($885k)2022 Revenue 499 ($1.3M) Expenses 756 ($1.5M) Net assets 1004 ($732k)2023 Revenue 619 ($1.6M) Expenses 703 ($1.4M) Net assets 1367 ($997k)2024 Revenue 363 ($948k) Expenses 898 ($1.7M) Net assets 298 ($217k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (363)Expenses (898)Net assets (298)Peer revenue range

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 $1.0M to $263k (−75%).

$73k
$157k
$185k
$571k
$906k
$897k
$1.0M
$263k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of Higher Heights Leadership Fund’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (99% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,975 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$69k
’17
$84k
’18
$16k
’19
$326k
’20
$359k
’21
−$153k
’22
$265k
’23
−$780k
’24
0.6
months of
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

Glynda Carr

President & CEO

Board chair

Tracy Sturdivant

Board Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed55581010912
Joined·+0+1+3+3+1+0+3
No longer listed·0101110
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $75k → $641k.

18 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 Higher Heights Leadership Fund’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 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

Higher Heights Leadership Fund has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left

63% 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 Higher Heights Leadership Fund.

11%
largest funder
31%
top three
~17
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 80% · 2018 55% · 2019 29% · 2020 19% · 2021 22% · 2022 20% · 2023 16% — 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

29% of Higher Heights Leadership Fund's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

54% of Higher Heights Leadership Fund's grant income comes from New York funders.

WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
MD
DE
DC
LA
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Higher Heights Leadership Fund has grown faster than half of the 1,798 civil rights nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−82% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve0.6mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)20% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,798 civil rights nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Higher Heights Leadership Fund

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

94% of spending goes to programs.

Program 94%Management 2%Fundraising 4%

Governance

6
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

94%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 14 states

MN
IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
CA
WV
VA
MD
SC
GA
FL

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • Higher Heights for America · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Higher Heights Leadership Fund: 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.

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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 Higher Heights Leadership Fund?
Higher Heights Leadership Fund (New York) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,632,718 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($744,250). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Higher Heights Leadership Fund have?
IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $6,632,718 in grants to Higher Heights Leadership Fund, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Higher Heights Leadership Fund?
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $744,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Higher Heights Leadership Fund 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 Higher Heights Leadership →

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 54 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