California · Nonprofit
MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND
MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $991,270 to it, the largest being THE HAWKINS PROJECT ($489,531). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.8M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $991k
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What McSweeney's Literary Arts Fund does
Mission
To support, create, and distribute to the public, non-commercial literature, including but not limited to translations, poetry, and other literary works that foster inclusivity, promote empathy and understanding, and bridge cultural divides.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Support, create, and distribute to the public literary work that fosters inclusivity, promotes empathy and understanding, and bridges cultural divides. Mlaf books provide an opportunity to share stories that more tightly weave the social fabric of a vast, multicultural country where individuals are isolated by geography, political or religious beliefs, class, gender, race, and sexuality. Americans live vastly different lives from one another, even when living side by side, and mlaf publications seek to bring people to a closer understanding of one another so that people may live in greater understanding of each other, and thus with greater unity among with dignity for each other.
$2,116,798 spent$1,869,455 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,116,798.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $1.4M to $1.9M (+38%).
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 7% · 2022 2% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
33% of MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $110k → $136k.
8 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 46% 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 MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND’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
MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
96% 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 MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 91% · 2020 93% · 2021 72% · 2022 63% · 2023 44% — 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
50% of MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% 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
MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $454k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND runs a healthier operating margin than half 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
Organizations like MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND: 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 MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND?
- MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND (California) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $991,270 to it, the largest being THE HAWKINS PROJECT ($489,531). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $991,270 in grants to MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND?
- THE HAWKINS PROJECT is the largest funder on record, with $489,531 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MCSWEENEY'S LITERARY ARTS FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 McSweeney's Literary Arts →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 16 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