New York · Nonprofit
NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC
NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC (New York) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,712,744 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($675,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What Not an Alternative Inc does
Mission
Not an alternative specializes in cultural organizing,narrative-changing, and creative advocacy strategies that advance the public good. We have a mission to address critical environmental and social challenges and build a more inclusive and just society.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS and PROGRAM: The Natural History Museum leverages the power of history, museums, monuments, and movements to change narratives, build alliances, educate the public and drive civic engagement in support of community-led movements for climate and environmental justice. The Natural History Museum collaborates with frontline communities, artists, scientists, and scholars to to develop award-winning exhibitions, films, cultural organizing initiatives, public scholarship, and campaigns with the goal of educating the public, measurably influencing public opinion, and inspiring collective action to protect natural and cultural heritage.
$353,947 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $353,947.
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. 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 2023 to 2024, from $758k to $1.3M (+73%).
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: 2017 93% · 2018 96% · 2020 7% · 2021 4% · 2022 11% · 2023 9% · 2024 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of NOT AN ALTERNATIVE 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. 3 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
Mary A Economopoulos
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $60k → $351k.
5 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 9% 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 NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% 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
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 37% · 2019 41% · 2020 32% · 2021 33% · 2022 39% · 2023 37% — 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
36% of NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC draws 61% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $250k 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.
Against its field
NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $22k on record.
- Smithsonian Institution$22k
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 NOT AN ALTERNATIVE 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 NOT AN ALTERNATIVE 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 NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC?
- NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC (New York) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,712,744 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION ($675,000). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $2,712,744 in grants to NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NOT AN ALTERNATIVE INC?
- THE WILLIAM & FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $675,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NOT AN ALTERNATIVE 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 31 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