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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

Lessons on Liberty Inc

Lessons on Liberty Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $500 to it, the largest being DOTOPIA ($500). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2023
$45k
Funders on record
1
Grants received
$500
Net assets
$-68971
0/1 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 0%
01What it does

What Lessons on Liberty Inc does

Mission

Educate and entertain the public with historically informed demonstrations of printing technology; teach media literacy and civic engagement by reproducing and engaging in dialogue with 18th-century documents whose

As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.

Program

  1. Educational Programs / Interpretation: The Printing Office of Edes & Gill is Bostons only functional 18th century exhibit. This offers an exclusive experience to our diverse visitors and educational clients. Interpertive frameworks include: Engine of Modernity - Demonstrate and explain the historical printing process and reveal how printing technology gave birth to the modern age. Freedom of the Press - Celebrate the hard-won right of printers and journalists to publish freely, and explain how a free press played a crucial role in 18th century politics, the birth of America, and its importance continues around the world today. Media Literacy - Emphasize the duty of citizens to develop media literacy and to read critically when approaching historical or contemporary tests, to seek the understanding of the difference between opinion, fact and misinformation. Civic Engagement - Celebrate the legacy of 18th century Bostons presses in stimulating public dialogue and provoking change, encourage a continuation of that spirit of engaged, informed citizenship in the modern age. Promise and Paradox of Liberty - Reveal the limited vision of liberty envisioned in the documents we print, while…

    $50,713 spent$45,396 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $50,713.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($131k) Expenses 100 ($136k) Net assets 100 ($5k)2018 Revenue 134 ($175k) Expenses 105 ($142k) Net assets 737 ($38k)2019 Revenue 201 ($262k) Expenses 205 ($279k) Net assets 408 ($21k)2020 Revenue 32 ($42k) Expenses 59 ($79k) Net assets -322 ($-16548)2021 Revenue 118 ($154k) Expenses 63 ($85k) Net assets 1011 ($52k)2022 Revenue 19 ($25k) Expenses 103 ($140k) Net assets -1237 ($-63654)2023 Revenue 35 ($45k) Expenses 37 ($51k) Net assets -1340 ($-68971)
2017201820192020202120222023
Revenue (35)Expenses (37)Net assets (-1340)Peer revenue range

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 $88k to $11k (−87%).

$10k
$38k
$28k
$26k
$88k
$11k
$5k
2017201820192020202120222023
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 76%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

0% of Lessons on Liberty Inc’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 18,808 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.

−$5k
’17
$33k
’18
−$17k
’19
−$38k
’20
$69k
’21
−$116k
’22
−$5k
’23
1.2
months of
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.

20192020202120222023
Listed33333
Joined·+0+0+0+0
No longer listed·0000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.

Funder
'18
total
funders
1

From the IRS filings of Lessons on Liberty 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.

Where its funders are

Lessons on Liberty Inc draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 1 state in all.

MN

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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Lessons on Liberty Inc's revenue fell 65% between 2017 and 2023.

Operating margin−12% · below the median
Months of reserve1.2mo · bottom quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−16% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 14,279 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2023

Organizations like Lessons on Liberty 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

100% of spending goes to programs.

Program 100%Management 0%Fundraising 0%

Governance

3
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

100%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Lessons on Liberty 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Lessons on Liberty Inc?
Lessons on Liberty Inc (Massachusetts) receives grants from 1 organization whose IRS filings report $500 to it, the largest being DOTOPIA ($500). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Lessons on Liberty Inc have?
IRS filings report 1 organization giving $500 in grants to Lessons on Liberty Inc.
Who is the largest funder of Lessons on Liberty Inc?
DOTOPIA is the largest funder on record, with $500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Lessons on Liberty 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 Lessons on Liberty →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2023 (financials across 2017–2023), and the filings of 1 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