Michigan · Nonprofit
INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM
INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM (Michigan) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,017,500 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($600,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2023
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Institute for Afrourbanism does
Mission
Afrourbanism is a movement activating interdimensional black genius toward the ideation and manifestation of thriving black futures. The work of iau is based on the premise that inside everyone is the capacity to thrive. If one can identify how thriving manifests within people, it can be activated in others across communities, spanning the diaspora. It is the belief that, if agency, abundance, and audacity are activated, then one is indeed thriving.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Programs
Iau will engage salaried citizen researchers to facilitate generative dialogues with members of their communities. Citizen researchers will then, in partnership with iau, detroit mercy, and partner organizations, co-create an "index" by which the ability to assess the extent to which current development efforts contribute to, or detract from, the well being of black residents can be started. Once a threshold (set of criteria outlined in a report) for thriving has been determined, the practitioners will then have data that can inform the policies and practices necessary to manifest thriving black communities that are deserved.
$143,075 spent$1,400 earned by the program32% of program spendingAs iau seeks to better understand the universal criteria for black thriving, the expedition serves predominantly as a research effort. The paris edition is organized around the ceremonial induction of josephine baker into the illustrious pantheon, the monument which houses the remains of france's most renowned war heroes, authors, and luminaries of various distinctions.
$69,015 spent15% of program spendingYouth program, including supplies, meals, pass-through entity transactions, and contractor activity
$178,464 spentof which $91,000 as grants$26,706 earned by the program40% of program spendingOver a period of several months, iau will engage organizations in a transformative process exploring the application of "repairations" within each organization and with the communities it serves. In order to usher in a paradigm shift that is worthy of 2021's worldwide racial reckoning, a new framework is required. Iau's approach is rooted in a model of restoration and repair, one that seeks to restore balance in relationships with each other and the environment.
$11,155 spent$56,609 earned by the program2% of program spendingArtist in residency
$45,701 spent10% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $447,410.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $430k to $1.5M (+248%).
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.
94% of INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 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
Lauren A Hood
Executive director
Board chair
Dan Pitera
Chair
As listed on its FY2023 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $200k → $1.3M.
From the IRS filings of INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM’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
INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 30% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 100% · 2023 48% — 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.
Where its funders are
INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM draws 55% of its grant income from funders outside Michigan, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 160 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 160 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2023
Organizations like INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM: 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 INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM?
- INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM (Michigan) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,017,500 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($600,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $2,017,500 in grants to INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $600,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSTITUTE FOR AFROURBANISM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 FY2023 (financials across 2021–2023), and the filings of 6 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