Idaho · Nonprofit
LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC
LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC (Idaho) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,022,070 to it, the largest being M J MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST ($300,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $2.5M
What Log Cabin Literary Center Inc does
Mission
The cabin is a community-based nonprofit with a mission to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation through stories.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
It's probably no spoiler that we believe in the power of literature. We also believe the connection between a writer and reader is a sacred bond. For more than 20 years, the cabin's readings & conversations series has featured literary superstars, bestselling authors, and high-profile thinkers to jumpstart community conversations on critical issues. From macarthur fellows to national book award winners, some of our past authors include ta-nehisi coates, ann patchett, jesmyn ward, jennifer egan, reza aslan, matthew desmond, anthony doerr, colson whitehead, tara westover, gloria steinem, and david grann.a readings & conversations lecture is typically an original talk by the author on the subject of their choice. It can be about their current book, upcoming projects, past works, relevant cultural issues, and more. The talk runs for about an hour and is followed by a 20ish minute q&a from the audience, moderated by kurt, the cabin's executive director.
$397,283 spent$140,604 earned by the program65% of program spendingWe believe better writers make better students. Our writers in the schools (wits) program is designed to foster creativity, communication, and self-discovery. Working in 3rd12th grade classrooms and juvenile detention centers throughout the treasure valley, the cabin's professional teaching-writerspoets, novelists, playwrights, and journalistslead creative writing, reading, and discussion projects.the result? Schools that have participated in our wits program report measurable improvements in student reading and writing skills, as well as positive experiences that encourage creative thought and expression.
$48,842 spent$17,286 earned by the program8% of program spendingThe cabin's summer writing camps help kids cultivate a lifelong love of writing through fun, week-long literary adventures. Campers explore community spaces like the idaho botanical garden, birds of prey, and the cabin as they build tools to creatively express themselves.teaching-writers share their expertise in poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, speculative fiction, and more to help your child build confidence in their writing.
$143,634 spent$50,834 earned by the program24% of program spendingReady to tell your story? Whether you've just written your first poem or have published a novel (or eight), the cabin's writing workshops will provide the support, tools, and community you need to develop as a writer.all workshops take place at the cabin in boise, idaho, and range from single-evening workshops to six-week intensives. And all of our six-week workshops are capped at twelve students, so you'll receive individualized guidance from your teaching-writer and fellow workshoppers.
$14,159 spent$5,011 earned by the program2% of program spendingWhile some authors write for themselves (we're looking at you, emily dickinson), many hope to reach an audience outside themselves. Writers in the attic can offer the first step towards that goal. An annual publication by the cabin, writers in the attic is a contest designed for idaho writers, both emerging and established, to publish work related to a one-word theme. (past years' themes have included song, game, and rupture.) with submissions blind-judged by a local writer of acclaim, selected poems and fiction are published in a yearly anthology. Selected writers are also invited to a book launch party and reading celebration in late august each year.
$3,489 spent$1,235 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $607,407.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.0M to $2.3M (+126%).
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 8% · 2022 8% · 2023 6% · 2024 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
70% of LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Kurt Zwolfer
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $26k → $91k.
7 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER 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
LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
27% 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 LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 78% · 2018 47% · 2019 70% · 2020 53% · 2021 64% · 2022 69% · 2023 37% — 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
13% of LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC draws 65% of its grant income from funders outside Idaho, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $203k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $112k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$112k
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 LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER 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 Idaho
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER 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 LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC?
- LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC (Idaho) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,022,070 to it, the largest being M J MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST ($300,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,022,070 in grants to LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC?
- M J MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $300,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LOG CABIN LITERARY CENTER INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Idaho. 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 Log Cabin Literary Center →
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 20 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