Massachusetts · Nonprofit
KINDLING INC
KINDLING INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $900,000 to it, the largest being UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC ($850,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $876k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $900k
- Net assets
- $45k
What Kindling Inc does
Mission
Kindling's mission is fire safety for all. Kindling advances fire safety in vulnerable communities worldwide through research, advocacy, learning, and practice. By bridging fire science and social science, Kindling addresses fire risks in informal settlements, humanitarian camps, and low-resource settings. This year, Kindling focused on interdisciplinary fire risk research, community-based safety assessments, and public safety advocacy to reduce fire hazards and improve resilience for at-risk populations.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In FY2024, Kindling advanced its mission to improve fire safety in vulnerable communities through applied research and collaboration funded by the Fire Safety Research Institute. The organization conducted large-scale fire experiments to generate data on fire dynamics in informal settlements, implemented a community-based fire risk assessment in BM Section A of Khayelitsha (Cape Town, South Africa), and convened both the Global Fire Safety Community of Practice under the Global Shelter Cluster and the Cape Town Fire Safety Community of Practice to connect humanitarian agencies, governments, researchers, practitioners, and residents in strengthening fire safety knowledge and standards in low-resource settings.
$827,990 spentof which $691,818 as grants$766,618 earned by the program99% of program spendingIn FY2024, Kindling hosted From Flames to Change in New York City, an event highlighting the often-overlooked fire risks facing low-income and marginalized communities in the United States. The event convened researchers, practitioners, and firefighters to discuss systemic drivers of fire vulnerability and explore pathways for more equitable and science-informed fire safety policy and practice.
$10,023 spentof which $2,000 as grants$3,988 earned by the program1% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $838,013.
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 $31k to $221k (+614%).
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 KINDLING INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (75% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $50k → $268k.
From the IRS filings of KINDLING INC’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
KINDLING INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 94% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 KINDLING INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
KINDLING INC draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, 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
KINDLING INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,070 public safety & disaster nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,070 public safety & disaster nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like KINDLING INC
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% 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 KINDLING INC: 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 KINDLING INC?
- KINDLING INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $900,000 to it, the largest being UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC ($850,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KINDLING INC have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $900,000 in grants to KINDLING INC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KINDLING INC?
- UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIES INC is the largest funder on record, with $850,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KINDLING INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Kindling →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 2 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