Iowa · Nonprofit
IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE
IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE (Iowa) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $52,719 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY ($34,350). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $230k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $53k
- Net assets
- $184k
What Iowa City Unesco City of Literature does
Mission
To build and support diverse communities of writers and audiences through the transformative power of story. We lead by inclusion and collaboration, celebrating the emotions, discovery and connections inspired by the written word in all its forms. We engage in complementary and cooperative work. We foster inclusive engagement to create connection locally and globally. We seek, engage, and support innovation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Iowa City Book Festival: The Iowa City Book Festival is an annual celebration of literature, bringing together readers, and writers in America's first UNESCO Cities of Literature. Held each fall, the festival features a diverse range of events, including author readings, panel discussions, and demonstrations, all set against the backdrop of Iowa City's dynamic literary community. With a focus on both emerging voices and established authors, the festival provides a platform for exploring various genres, ideas, and storytelling traditions. It's a unique opportunity for book lovers to connect, engage in thoughtful conversations, and celebrate the written word in a city known for its literary heritage. It drew more than 3,850 attendees in fall 2024.
$56,918 spent$31,800 earned by the program35% of program spendingOne Book Two Book: The One Book Two Book festival is a celebration of children's literature and writing. The event showcases the talents of young writers and aims to inspire a lifelong love of reading and storytelling. With a variety of events, including readings by local children, interactive workshops, book fair, and family-friendly activities, the festival highlights the power of young voices. It provides an exciting opportunity for kids to engage with books in fun, imaginative ways, while also encouraging the community to support and nurture the next generation of writers and readers. It drew about 1,000 attendees in winter 2025.
$14,931 spent$6,256 earned by the program9% of program spendingPaul Engle Award: The annual Paul Engle Prize from the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature honors an individual who, like Paul Engle, represents a pioneering spirit in the world of literature through writing, editing, publishing, or teaching, and whose active participation in the larger issues of the day has contributed to the betterment of the world through the literary arts. This prize does not recognize one work, nor is it solely limited to reflecting literary achievement. Rather, the award seeks to recognize a writer, like Engle, who makes an impact on his or her community and the world at large through efforts beyond the page. It also seeks to raise awareness about Engle and his works. The prize was awarded to Camille T. Dungy in fall 2024.
$35,956 spent$25,000 earned by the program22% of program spendingPaul Engle Glory of the Senses High School Essay Contest: To continue Paul Engle's tradition of inspiring writers and celebrating the rich culture of Iowa, the City of Literature organization annually solicits essays from Iowa high school sophomores about an "Iowa experience," drawing on a specific memory to capture the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches of the day. The author of the essay judged by reviewers to be the best receives one year of free tuition to the University of Iowa. A select number of runners up receive a $500 scholarship from the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature.
$4,252 spent3% of program spendingMusic IC: MusicIC is a unique festival in Iowa City that blends the worlds of classical music and literature, offering audiences an immersive cultural experience. This three-day festival features performances by talented musicians and writers who explore the connections between music and literary works. The programs strive to combine selected musical compositions with literature, creating a rich interplay between the two art forms.
$32,984 spent$18,511 earned by the program20% of program spendingPoetry in Public: Poetry in Public celebrates our community's rich literary tradition and local writing talent by displaying poems by writers of all ages. Selected poems are posted for viewing all over the community and poets are invited to read their works at the Iowa City Book Festival.
$3,402 spent2% of program spendingClassics Reading Series: An engaging program that brings timeless literary works to life for contemporary audiences in Iowa City and across the globe. Led by scholar Anna Barker, the series features in-depth discussions and public readings of classic literature, offering insights into the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of each text.
$850 spent1% of program spendingSlamoVision: SlamoVision is a project of the international UNESCO Cities of Literature. Slam poets in Cities of Literature around the world compete in their home cities. One poet from each participating city moves on to an international competition judged by fans from the other cities. At the end of the process, one poet is named the SlamoVision champion.
$1,701 spent1% of program spendingIn addition to major programs, the organization also engages in work that involves collaboration with other local and international partners, promotion of Iowa City's literary assets, and providing assistance to individuals seeking to connect with our community.
$12,759 spent8% of program spending
The 9 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $163,753.
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 2021 to 2022, from $215k to $274k (+28%).
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.
64% of IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% 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
John Kenyon
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $11k → $62.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE’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
IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
85% 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 IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 100% · 2019 90% · 2020 94% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
66% of IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE'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 $18k that is directly attributable, 55% of it comes from funders outside Iowa, across 2 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $35k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $53k to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE
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 Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE: 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 IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE?
- IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE (Iowa) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $52,719 to it, the largest being COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY ($34,350). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $52,719 in grants to IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE?
- COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY is the largest funder on record, with $34,350 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. 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 Iowa City Unesco City of Literature →
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 5 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