New York · Nonprofit
INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION
INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION (New York) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,496,625 to it, the largest being CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION ($570,275). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $101k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $33k
What Institute of Black Imagination does
Mission
To ignite the curiosity, imagination, and creative potential of black and brown visionaries across the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Space 001 - oculus - in fall 2023, we began the build out of our physical ecosystem starting with the opening of the oculus at world trade center. Although based within a retail landscape, the space is designed with intention to deposit - rather than extract. The ibi oculus will serve as a reference library holding the library archive, exhibition space and podcast studio, designed to bring black imagination into space and time.
$96,353 spentof which $12,759 as grants47% of program spendingGeneral programming - general programming allows for the continued broadcast of black imagination podcast episodes, the apprenticeship/fellowship/artist in residence programming, the acquisition of an additional library archive, more content curated for the website, and sustained brand awareness on social media.
$93,537 spentof which $520 as grants45% of program spendingPodcast - the podcast program supports the production and distribution of the Institute of Black Imagination's audio content, including interviews with artists, designers, and cultural leaders.
$11,416 spent6% of program spendingOther: archiving, digital, development and talley archive
$5,370 spent3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $206,676.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 $382k to $180k (−53%).
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.
100% of INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $238k → $659k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION’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 OF BLACK IMAGINATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
67% 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 INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 71% · 2023 76% — 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 OF BLACK IMAGINATION draws 53% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $426k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 2 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION
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.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION: 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 OF BLACK IMAGINATION?
- INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION (New York) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,496,625 to it, the largest being CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION ($570,275). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $1,496,625 in grants to INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION?
- CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $570,275 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSTITUTE OF BLACK IMAGINATION 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 Institute of Black Imagination →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 3 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