New York · Nonprofit
KWELI JOURNAL INC
KWELI JOURNAL INC (New York) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $130,004 to it, the largest being JOHN N BLACKMAN SR FOUNDATION ($79,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $198k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $130k
- Net assets
- $60k
What Kweli Journal Inc does
Mission
Kweli's mission is to nurture emerging writers of color and create opportunities for their voices to be recognized and valued. By creating a community of black, indigenous and poc artists and programming based on artistic excellence and rigor, kweli empowers writers to share stories that engage and impact our communities. Our vision is for a world where the narratives being told reflect the truth of our histories and the possibilities for our future.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Narrative of 2023 program servicesannual color of children's literature conference conference providing craft lessons, panel discussions on business of publishing, 3 hour master classes for intermediate writers and illustrators and workshops for beginning students. Approximately 235 students benefited. Annual international literary festivalfestival providing readings and conversations with debut and award-winning writers, master classes, craft talks, and much more, as well as the year's best opportunity to connect with agents, editors, and fellow creatives of color. Approximately 135 students benefited. Art of the short story workshopsthe art of the short story workshop is a multi session workshop for short story writers and novelists of color with kweli founding editor and publisher, laura pegram. The workshop is tailor-made for writers of adult fiction. It is a safer space for all people of color, including black, indigenous, aapi, latinx, lgbtqia+ writers at all levels. It includes seminars focused on craft and in-class writing exercises. There will be reading assignments and a study of works by well-known adult fiction writers and poets. Writing will begin on the first day of…
$320,917 spentof which $1,000 as grants$49,746 earned by the program100% of program spendingKweli fellowship programfellowship program provides three or more early-stage writers with 11-month writing fellowships. Each fellows receives ten months of editorial support from kweli journal editors to prepare a piece for publication in the magazine; a $2,000 stipend; admission-free enrollment in three professionally led writing workshops on literary fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry; participation in four public readings by workshop participants; admission-free participation in our international literary festival, inclusive of pitch sessions with literary agents and editors; optionally, admission-free participation in our color of children literature conference; publication in kweli journal; an all expense paid writing retreat hosted at akwaaba. 9 students benefitedkweli multi media reading and conversationkweli formed a new partnership with ballet hispanico in 2023 and, in so doing, expanded our hybrid public programming. We added dance narratives to our staged readings and conversations throughout the year. We opened the year with a reading and dance interpretation for platanos go with everything by lissette norman at ballet hispanico. During our kweli color of…
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $320,917.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $349k to $97k (−72%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2022 55% · 2023 36% · 2024 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of KWELI JOURNAL INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Laura Pegram
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $5k → $15k.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 KWELI JOURNAL 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
KWELI JOURNAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 52% · 2019 53% · 2020 62% · 2021 50% · 2022 67% · 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
100% of KWELI JOURNAL INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $34 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
KWELI JOURNAL INC has grown faster than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding KWELI JOURNAL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $175k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$175k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like KWELI JOURNAL 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for KWELI JOURNAL 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 KWELI JOURNAL INC?
- KWELI JOURNAL INC (New York) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $130,004 to it, the largest being JOHN N BLACKMAN SR FOUNDATION ($79,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does KWELI JOURNAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $130,004 in grants to KWELI JOURNAL INC, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of KWELI JOURNAL INC?
- JOHN N BLACKMAN SR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $79,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like KWELI JOURNAL INC 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 Kweli Journal →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), 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