Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
Next City Inc
Next City Inc (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,238,621 to it, the largest being SURDNA FOUNDATION INC ($2,151,542). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 28
- Grants received
- $5.2M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What Next City Inc does
Mission
Next city, inc. Is a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire social, economic and environmental change in cities through journalism and events around the world. The vision of the organization is for a world in which cities are not in crisis and are, instead, leading the way towards a more sustainable, equitable future. The organization provides daily online coverage of the leaders, policies and innovations driving progress in metropolitan regions across the world. In an age when original, on-the-ground reporting is increasingly rare, we send our writers into urban communities around the world to produce our award-winning long-form content. In addition to our online journalism, we produce events including an annual urban leadership conference, vanguard.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Next city, inc. Is a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire social, economic and environmental change in cities through journalism and events around the world. The vision of the organization is for a world in which cities are not in crisis and are, instead, leading the way towards a more sustainable, equitable future. The organization provides daily online coverage of the leaders, policies and innovations driving progress in metropolitan regions across the world. In an age when original, on-the-ground reporting is increasingly rare, we send our writers into urban communities around the world to produce our award-winning long-form content. In addition to our online journalism, we produce events including an annual urban leadership conference, vanguard.
$909,134 spent$165,427 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $909,134.
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.
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 $785k to $1.3M (+63%).
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 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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
Lucas Grindley
Executive director
Board chair
Eric Shaw
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $650k → $890k.
5 of 28 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 Next City 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
Next City Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 41% · 2019 48% · 2020 65% · 2021 48% · 2022 52% · 2023 39% — 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
27% of Next City Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 39% 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
Next City Inc draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Pennsylvania, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $239k 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.
Government funding Next City Inc receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $20k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$20k
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 Next City 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
61% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
51%
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 Next City 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 Next City Inc?
- Next City Inc (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 28 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,238,621 to it, the largest being SURDNA FOUNDATION INC ($2,151,542). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Next City Inc have?
- IRS filings report 28 organizations giving $5,238,621 in grants to Next City Inc, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Next City Inc?
- SURDNA FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $2,151,542 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Next City Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Next City →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 28 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