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New York · Nonprofit

New York Folklore Society Inc

New York Folklore Society Inc (New York) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $206,712 to it, the largest being NEW YORK COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES ($40,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$807k
Funders on record
16
Grants received
$207k
Net assets
$148k
6/16 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 12%
01What it does

What New York Folklore Society Inc does

Mission

Provides technical assistance to professional folklorists, traditional artists, and other individuals and organizations involved with folklore.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. To promote and encourage the study and continuation of folklore of the diverse cultures of New York State.

    $776,718 spentof which $206,205 as grants$806,772 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $776,718.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($319k) Expenses 100 ($300k) Net assets -120 ($-14253)2018 Revenue 116 ($371k) Expenses 123 ($369k) Net assets -107 ($-12779)2019 Revenue 119 ($379k) Expenses 124 ($373k) Net assets -57 ($-6761)2020 Revenue 85 ($270k) Expenses 84 ($251k) Net assets 100 ($12k)2021 Revenue 114 ($363k) Expenses 123 ($369k) Net assets 49 ($6k)2022 Revenue 140 ($445k) Expenses 151 ($454k) Net assets -28 ($-3387)2023 Revenue 237 ($755k) Expenses 227 ($681k) Net assets 681 ($81k)2024 Revenue 269 ($856k) Expenses 253 ($760k) Net assets 1404 ($167k)2025 Revenue 253 ($807k) Expenses 275 ($826k) Net assets 1244 ($148k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (253)Expenses (275)Net assets (1244)

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 $96k to $207k (+116%).

$14k
$22k
$17k
$80k
$22k
$11k
$96k
$207k
$216k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 88% · 2018 94% · 2019 80% · 2020 84% · 2021 67% · 2022 90% · 2023 70% · 2024 73% · 2025 63%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$18k
’17
$1k
’18
$6k
’19
$19k
’20
−$6k
’21
−$9k
’22
$74k
’23
$96k
’24
−$19k
’25
0.4
months of
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

Ellen McHale

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed121212121515151414
Joined·+1+3+0+8+1+0+4+0
No longer listed·13051050
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income rose $2k → $42k.

5 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 York Folklore Society 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

New York Folklore Society Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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

72% 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 York Folklore Society Inc.

20%
largest funder
48%
top three
~9
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 88% · 2019 100% · 2020 31% · 2021 87% · 2022 86% · 2023 60% — 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

38% of New York Folklore Society Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

77% of New York Folklore Society Inc's grant income comes from New York funders.

ME
VT
NY

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $40k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding New York Folklore Society Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $694k on record.

Federal$694k
grants $694kcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Top agencies
  • National Endowment for the Arts$509k
  • Department of the Interior$95k
  • National Archives and Records Administration$89k

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 New York Folklore Society 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 New York

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

94% of spending goes to programs.

Program 94%Management 6%Fundraising 0%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

96%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for New York Folklore Society 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.

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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 York Folklore Society Inc?
New York Folklore Society Inc (New York) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $206,712 to it, the largest being NEW YORK COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES ($40,500). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does New York Folklore Society Inc have?
IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $206,712 in grants to New York Folklore Society Inc, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of New York Folklore Society Inc?
NEW YORK COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES is the largest funder on record, with $40,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like New York Folklore Society Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), 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