Massachusetts · Nonprofit
NEW BEDFORD LIGHT
NEW BEDFORD LIGHT (Massachusetts) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,794,214 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO ($660,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 56
- Grants received
- $3.8M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What New Bedford Light does
Mission
We seek to inform and nourish the civic culture of new bedford and surrounding towns by providing in-depth, fact-based journalism and a broad platform for diverse community voices. Through our innovative journalism incubator project we promote media literacy and educate the public about the vital role of a free press in bolstering our democracy.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The purposes of the corporation are exclusively charitable, educational, scientific, and/or cultural as set forth in section 501(c)(3) of the united states internal revenue code (the "code"), or the corresponding section of the future federal tax code. Specifically, the corporation will carry out these purposes with the goal of engaging in investigative journalism, using institutional expertise to research and educate the public about particular topics, and provide the public with an online news outlet covering topics important to the greater new bedford area and which will benefit the community as a whole. In connection with these purposes, the corporation may collaborate with governmental entities and/or other non-profit organizations which are qualified as exempt under section 501 (c)(3) of the code.
$1,201,697 spentof which $9,615 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,201,697.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $681k to $1.3M (+91%).
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: 2023 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of NEW BEDFORD LIGHT’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. 0 of the last 4 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 39 funders, grant income rose $376k → $907k.
8 of 56 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 NEW BEDFORD LIGHT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 56 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
NEW BEDFORD LIGHT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
51% 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 NEW BEDFORD LIGHT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 32% · 2022 33% · 2023 14% — 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.
Where its funders are
NEW BEDFORD LIGHT draws 58% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
NEW BEDFORD LIGHT has grown faster than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like NEW BEDFORD LIGHT
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 12 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NEW BEDFORD LIGHT: 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 NEW BEDFORD LIGHT?
- NEW BEDFORD LIGHT (Massachusetts) receives grants from 56 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,794,214 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO ($660,000). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NEW BEDFORD LIGHT have?
- IRS filings report 56 organizations giving $3,794,214 in grants to NEW BEDFORD LIGHT, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NEW BEDFORD LIGHT?
- JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO is the largest funder on record, with $660,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NEW BEDFORD LIGHT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 56 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