West Virginia · Nonprofit
Mountain State Spotlight Inc
Mountain State Spotlight Inc (West Virginia) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,071,997 to it, the largest being AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC ($750,079). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $690k
What Mountain State Spotlight Inc does
Mission
To serve the general public as an independent, civic news organization that tells stories of importance to West Virginians about issues and challenges facing their communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Operation of digital news room serving universally-accessible information focused on major issues facing West Virginians, including public health threats, economic development challenges, environment issues, and government accountability. In 2025, the Organization continued its investigation of West Virginia's troubled foster care system, finding that state officials were returning millions of dollars meant to help foster youth transition to adulthood by providing assistance with educational opportunities, housing, and other needs. Following the Organization's reporting, state lawmakers passed a bill requiring foster care system officials to "maximize" their use of those federal funds and file a public report on their progress. The Organization reported extensively on data centers proposed around the state, lifting up the concerns of citizens about those projects, and published stories about ways the state's budget is shortchanging community needs, such as reducing funds for public schools while spending $300 million on a private school voucher program. The Organization also wrote repeatedly about the need to help West Virginians with rising costs of child care services, and…
$778,200 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $778,200.
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 2020 to 2021, from $108k to $714k (+560%).
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.
98% of Mountain State Spotlight Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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 6 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.
Board chair
Benjamin L Bailey
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 13 funders, grant income rose $12k → $945k.
6 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 Mountain State Spotlight 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
Mountain State Spotlight Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
70% 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 Mountain State Spotlight Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 40% · 2022 35% · 2023 29% — 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
43% of Mountain State Spotlight Inc's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 75% 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
Mountain State Spotlight Inc draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside West Virginia, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M 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
Mountain State Spotlight Inc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Mountain State Spotlight 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 West Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Mountain State Spotlight 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 Mountain State Spotlight Inc?
- Mountain State Spotlight Inc (West Virginia) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,071,997 to it, the largest being AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC ($750,079). 18 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Mountain State Spotlight Inc have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $3,071,997 in grants to Mountain State Spotlight Inc, 18 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Mountain State Spotlight Inc?
- AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC is the largest funder on record, with $750,079 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Mountain State Spotlight Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in West Virginia. 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 Mountain State Spotlight →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 24 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