Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION
PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,901,899 to it, the largest being GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($386,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $861k
- Funders on record
- 44
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $781k
What Pen Faulkner Foundation does
Mission
The pen/faulkner foundation champions the breadth and power of fiction in america.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Writers in schools brings a diverse range of authors, along with free copies of their culturally relevant books, into dc classrooms to serve students in grades 3-12 and inspire the next generation of readers and writers. We conducted 75 author visits, along with 50 writing workshops and three year-long residencies.
$157,131 spentof which $15,225 as grants42% of program spendingOur literary programs bring together highly-acclaimed writers todiscuss the urgent issues that surround their work and let fiction serve asa springboard for civil discourse. Over the past 45+ years, they have featured authors reading from their work and engaging inthrilling, thought-provoking conversations.
$99,730 spentof which $4,150 as grants27% of program spendingThe pen/faukner award honors the best published works of fiction by american permanent residents in a calendar year. Three writers are chosen annually by the board of directors of the pen/faulkner foundation to serve as judges, ensuring that our awards selection process is free of commercial influence. These judges select an inital longlist of ten books, followed by five finalists, and finally one winner as the "first among equals."
$116,566 spentof which $56,930 as grants31% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $373,427.
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 2021 to 2022, from $503k to $745k (+48%).
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 42% · 2018 33% · 2019 30% · 2020 19% · 2021 10% · 2022 38% · 2023 31% · 2024 21% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 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 FY2018 and FY2019 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 18 funders, grant income rose $112k → $191k.
8 of 44 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 44 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
PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
49% 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 PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 40% · 2018 40% · 2019 34% · 2020 21% · 2021 25% · 2022 24% · 2023 18% — 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 PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION draws 67% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 11 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $656k 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.
Government funding PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $80k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$80k
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 PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
52% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION: 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 PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION?
- PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 44 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,901,899 to it, the largest being GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($386,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 44 organizations giving $1,901,899 in grants to PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION?
- GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $386,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PEN FAULKNER FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Pen Faulkner →
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 44 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