New York · Nonprofit
Labor Arts Inc
Labor Arts Inc (New York) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,000 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($10,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $50k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $25k
- Net assets
- $121k
What Labor Arts Inc does
Mission
To document and celebrate the artistic and cultural heritage of working people and the labor movement, and encourage understanding of their often overlooked contributions to our society.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
LEMLICH AWARDS:The Lemlich Awards honor women who have been working for the larger good their entire lives, in the tradition of those who sparked so many reforms in the aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911. The importance of honoring these women is matched only by the value of transmitting their stories to younger generations, which we do via interns who work on the project, an event, and a series of projects to engage youth in interviewing and "shadowing" the honorees. The honorees have made real and lasting change in the world through their activism, advocating for workers, for the elderly, for safe and affordable housing, for equitable environmental action, for civil rights and more. The program celebrates five women each year with an event attended by hundreds, and creates a permanent online exhibit featuring their accomplishments. The related "Connecting Activists" program conducts a variety of programs with high school and students to engage them in conversations and research on the honorees and their fields of activism.
$13,000 spent42% of program spendingMAKING WORK VISIBLE:The "Making Work Visible" contest encourages CUNY college students, most from low-income and immigrant communities, to use writing and creative expression to depict and analyze their experience of being a worker in New York. CUNY is one of the largest and most diverse community college systems in the United States, and most students have either worked before becoming students or must work while they study. This program allows applicants to improve their writing skills and receive recognition for their achievements and contributions to society and work. This program not only raises awareness but helps participants to value their role in the workforce and lead by example in their communities. It is jointly sponsored with the City University of New York, and awards cash prizes for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual art that shows thoughtful, original work on subjects relevant to work, to working people, and to the labor movement. Topics might include, but are not limited to: economic and social problems; issues of immigration; conflicts based on race, class, and ethnic identity; environmental concerns; child labor; women in the labor force; economic justice;…
$10,600 spent34% of program spendingLABORARTS WEB MUSEUM:The core program of LaborArts is an online web museum with a steadily expanding collection of online exhibits focused on different aspects of the lives and history of work and workers - primarily in New York City. Maintaining and updating this collection and transferring earlier exhibits (created in the early 2000s) to a format that can be sustained is an extensive ongoing endeavor. So too is the project of creating events and contests and other public engagement that draws attention to this rich collection of stories and images that document working people and the labor movement.
$2,000 spent6% of program spendingEXHIBITIONS:In addition to online exhibits and accompanying events and awards ceremonies, LaborArts has been mounting exhibits at various university and museum locations. Following a series of 2022 events commemorating the 1982 garment workers' strike in Chinatown, the following distinct but related exhibitions were mounted: September 2022 - May 2023 - "We Are One" photo exhibit in the gallery at Columbia University's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race (LaborArts online exhibit created in 2023); Fall 2023 - "Memory in Cloth" exhibit at NYU's Tamiment Library (online exhibit created in 2024); Fall 2023 - "We Are One" photo exhibit at the Puffin Gallery in Teaneck NJ; Spring/Summer 2024 - "We Are One" photo and object exhibit on view at Botto House Labor Museum in Patterson NJ. While reusing some of the same images - and the same title - each exhibit was tailored to the host location, featuring new research and new photos.LaborArts also created a permanent exhibition at the headquarters of the NYC Central Labor Council - "New York City Works - Jobs, Advocacy, Action" - opening January 2025, and an accompanying online exhibit.
$5,528 spent18% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $31,128.
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 $58k to $83k (+43%).
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.
75% of Labor Arts Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (65% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income held at $5k.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 Labor Arts 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
Labor Arts Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% 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
40% 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 Labor Arts Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 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
Labor Arts Inc draws 67% 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. $10k 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
Labor Arts Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 21,859 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 21,859 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like Labor Arts 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.
Public support
94%
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 Labor Arts 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 Labor Arts Inc?
- Labor Arts Inc (New York) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,000 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($10,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Labor Arts Inc have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $25,000 in grants to Labor Arts Inc, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Labor Arts Inc?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $10,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Labor Arts 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 Labor Arts →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), 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