Louisiana · Nonprofit
LINE 4 LINE
LINE 4 LINE (Louisiana) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $946,681 to it, the largest being THE HUEY & ANGELINA WILSON FOUNDATION ($180,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $486k
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $947k
- Net assets
- $215k
What Line 4 Line does
Mission
Line4line's mission is to engage, inspire, and connect youth through free community-based programming that champions creative literacy, book access, and positive mentorship. Line4line began with a simple yet powerful idea: offering free haircuts to young people who read aloud. This innovative approach has since evolved into a comprehensive organization dedicated to fostering youth development in baton rouge. Building on this history, our work today empowers youth by creating robust ecosystems of care that utilize various community spaces (from the barbershop to classrooms) to foster a culture of literacy and provide a continuous continuum of educational support.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Line4lines book access programming is designed to address literacy inequity and promote social-emotional learning by providing free, curated books to youth and families throughout the baton rouge community. This programming is centered on the distribution of high-quality, age- appropriate literature specifically selected for its thematic focus on kindness, empathy, and diversity. These books are chosen to serve as both mirrors, allowing young readers to see their own experiences validated, and as windows, offering them perspectives into the lives of others to cultivate understanding and compassion. Key programming activities include the ongoing book of the month initiative, which provides a sustained pipeline of new books directly to partnered elementary school classrooms, educators, and individual youth to build home libraries and encourage habitual reading. Furthermore, this programming encompasses community outreach, which involves collaborative family literacy nights at local schools to engage families in literacy development. Finally, the initiative executes community-based distribution events, strategically placing books directly into the hands of children and families at…
$24,669 spent$3,391 earned by the program9% of program spendingLine4line's creative literacy programming is dedicated to cultivating a holistic and positive literacy ecosystem that supplements traditional education by demonstrating the value and joy of literacy skills. Creative literacy activities are designed to complement academic instruction by meeting young people in familiar and supportive settings, including in- school sessions, afterschool programs, out-of-school camps, and community spaces like oneils barber & beauty salon through line4lines signature haircut for reading program. Within these spaces, this programming facilitates engaging activities that strengthen core competencies in reading, writing, vocabulary, and storytelling. The focus is on creative, application-based learning that connects literacy to self-expression, community interaction, and personal interests. By creating consistent and positive touchpoints with literacy in a variety of contexts, the initiative aims to transform a child's perception of reading and writing from a solely academic task into an accessible, communal, and empowering tool. The ultimate goal is to foster intrinsic motivation and position students for greater academic success by nurturing their…
$20,660 spent$21,195 earned by the program7% of program spendingLine4line's youth mentorship programming provides structured, community- based support systems designed to guide young people toward positive life outcomes. This initiative directly addresses community challenges by creating protective factors for youth, combating disinvestment and violence through consistent mentorship and skill development. The programming connects participants with caring adult role models and provides accessible learning opportunities within trusted neighborhood settings. Key program activities include the barbers as mentors (bam) program, which formally extends the barbershop's role as a community hub by organizing a basketball league (clippers) to foster discipline and positive peer relationships. The reading and beading initiative creates a supportive space for young women and girls to discuss critical topics such as mental health and personal growth. For youth at risk for involvement in violence, the pivot project provides targeted support using evidence-based crisis violence intervention (cvi) and crime violence prevention (cvp) strategies. Finally, barbering education is offered through high school barbering classes at partner schools and a hands-on…
$120,243 spent$8,500 earned by the program42% of program spendingBook access - a little free library sits outside the barber shop and is regularly stocked with new and used books. To date more than 4,000 books have found new homes across baton rouge. Line4line works with community groups to rehome donated books throughout city, in free little libraries, public housing sites, doctors offices and classrooms. Community lending library - line4lines library of 800+ books, for all reading levels and interests is available to community members to borrow. The collection focuses on diversity, specifically black, indigenous, people of color. An catalog of the collection is accessible on line4lines website and linked to black owned bookstores. Line4line is working with front yard bike to build a mobile bike-mobile, to expand access of books into areas of high need. Backspace - in 2019 line4line renovated a multi-purpose program space within the barbershop complex, home to our lending library and all of our community based programs, including saturday open-house, summer camps, mentoring program, workshops, trainings, community partner collaborations, and more. Life/workforce development - in 2020 line4line expanded its outreach into capitol high school…
$118,679 spent42% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $284,251.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $125k to $217k (+74%).
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: 2021 9% · 2022 4% · 2023 2% · 2024 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of LINE 4 LINE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 10 funders, grant income rose $4k → $220k.
2 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 LINE 4 LINE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 20 of 22 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
LINE 4 LINE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
29% 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 LINE 4 LINE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 54% · 2021 62% · 2022 30% · 2023 50% — 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
33% of LINE 4 LINE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
91% of LINE 4 LINE's grant income comes from Louisiana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $75k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
LINE 4 LINE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 17,953 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,953 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like LINE 4 LINE
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 Louisiana
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
49%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LINE 4 LINE: 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 LINE 4 LINE?
- LINE 4 LINE (Louisiana) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $946,681 to it, the largest being THE HUEY & ANGELINA WILSON FOUNDATION ($180,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LINE 4 LINE have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $946,681 in grants to LINE 4 LINE, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LINE 4 LINE?
- THE HUEY & ANGELINA WILSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $180,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LINE 4 LINE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Louisiana. 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 Line 4 Line →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 22 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing