New Jersey · Nonprofit
Life Town Inc
Life Town Inc (New Jersey) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,225,991 to it, the largest being PAULA and Jerry GOTTESMAN FAMILY SUPPORTING FOUNDATION INC ($2,250,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $4.2M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Life Town Inc does
Mission
LifeTown is dedicated to creating an inclusive and supportive environment where individuals with special needs can develop life skills, build confidence, and foster meaningful connections. Through innovative therapeutic, educational, and recreational programs, we empower individuals to achieve independence and actively participate in their communities. By inspiring and enriching the lives of our participants, families, volunteers, and schools, LifeTown fosters a culture of empathy, empowerment, and true inclusion. As a place where the entire community comes together, LifeTown creates meaningful experiences that promote understanding, connection, and opportunities for individuals of all abilities to thrive.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
LifeTown, located in Livingston, NJ, is a state-of-the-art, inclusive facility that provides individuals with special needs a unique and immersive environment to develop essential life skills, build confidence, and foster social connections. LifeTown is designed to be a welcoming space where children, teens, and adults of all abilities can learn, grow, and experience independence in a fun and supportive setting. One of LifeTown's most innovative features is LifeTown Shoppes, a simulated town where individuals can practice real-world skills in a controlled and supportive environment. The interactive town includes a grocery store, where participants learn budgeting and shopping skills; a bank, helping individuals understand money management; a doctor's office and dentist, where they can become familiar with medical visits; a salon and spa, encouraging self-care and grooming; a movie theater, fostering social outings and community interaction; a pet shop, introducing responsibilities of animal care; and a caf and restaurant, teaching ordering, dining, and social etiquette. By role-playing and engaging in these activities, individuals gain independence and confidence in navigating…
$1,260,617 spent$569,889 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,260,617.
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 2017 to 2018, from $13M to $18M (+34%).
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 0% · 2025 26%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of Life Town Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum
Chairman and CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 13 funders, grant income fell $1.8M → $370k.
13 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 26% 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 Life Town Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 funders by total. 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
Life Town Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
79% 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 Life Town Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 46% · 2019 67% · 2020 35% · 2021 41% · 2022 35% · 2023 47% — diversifying over time.
“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.
How long its funders stay
36% of Life Town Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
85% of Life Town Inc's grant income comes from New Jersey funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
Life Town Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 6,891 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,891 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Life Town Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $875k on record.
- NJ$875k
- FL$50
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 Life Town 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 Jersey
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
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Friendship Circle New Jersey Inc · exempt
- Chabad of Livingston Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Life Town 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 Life Town Inc?
- Life Town Inc (New Jersey) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,225,991 to it, the largest being PAULA and Jerry GOTTESMAN FAMILY SUPPORTING FOUNDATION INC ($2,250,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Life Town Inc have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $4,225,991 in grants to Life Town Inc, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Life Town Inc?
- PAULA and Jerry GOTTESMAN FAMILY SUPPORTING FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Life Town Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Jersey. 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 Life Town →
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 43 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