New York · Nonprofit
POETS AND WRITERS INC
POETS AND WRITERS INC (New York) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,955,615 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($765,895). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.8M
- Funders on record
- 48
- Grants received
- $2.0M
- Net assets
- $8.4M
What Poets and Writers Inc does
Mission
To foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Poets & writers is a national arts service organization, providing writers of poetry and literary prose access to content, learning, and community to build and sustain the writing life, and fostering communication throughout the literary community. Poets & writers magazine is published six times a year and delivers to its readers profiles of noted authors and publishing professionals, practical how-to articles, and the most comprehensive list of grants and awards available in print. Poets & writers magazine is distributed to 42,000 paid member/subscribers and is sold on newsstands nationwide.
$1,938,624 spent$1,836,631 earned by the program58% of program spendingPoets & writers' website, pw.org, offers online-only editorial features and a suite of carefully vetted databases of writing contests, literary magazines, small presses, literary agents, mfa programs, review outlets, and more. Also online are the poets & writers directory, which lists more than 11,000 published writers, the national literary events calendar, and poets & writers groups, a peer-to-peer networking tool that enables writers to form, join, and manage writing groups.
$517,575 spent$12,021 earned by the program15% of program spendingThe readings & workshops program makes mini-grants to writers who participate in public literary events and provides technical assistance to event organizers. We offer a series of online courses in both the business and craft of writing. Juried programs and fellowships such as the maureen egen writers exchange award and get the word out provide professional opportunities to early career writers and the jackson poetry prize recognizes excellence in american poetry.
$668,505 spentof which $357,525 as grants20% of program spendingGet the word out is a new publicity incubator that helps early-careerauthors develop a strategic marketing plan. Participants are selectedthrough a competitive application process. Mapping the maze is anonline workshop that demystifies the publishing process to help writerschart a path to publication. It introduces writers from around thecountry to agents, editors, and other publishing professionals.additional online courses are planned. Poets & writers also sponsorstwo prominent literary awards: the maureen egen writers exchange awardand the jackson poetry prize.
$245,029 spent$132,457 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,369,733.
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 2022 to 2023, from $9.0M to $11M (+22%).
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 7% · 2018 5% · 2019 7% · 2020 6% · 2021 15% · 2022 9% · 2023 11% · 2024 5% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
46% of POETS AND WRITERS INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Melissa Gradel
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $52k → $128k.
10 of 48 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 POETS AND WRITERS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 48 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
POETS AND WRITERS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 POETS AND WRITERS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 67% · 2019 40% · 2020 24% · 2021 34% · 2022 38% · 2023 32% — 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
46% of POETS AND WRITERS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
61% of POETS AND WRITERS INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $765k that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
POETS AND WRITERS INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding POETS AND WRITERS INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $567k on record — $565k federal, $2k state.
- National Endowment for the Arts$565k
- Advertising$2k
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 POETS AND WRITERS 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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
83%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 31 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POETS AND WRITERS 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 POETS AND WRITERS INC?
- POETS AND WRITERS INC (New York) receives grants from 48 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,955,615 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($765,895). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does POETS AND WRITERS INC have?
- IRS filings report 48 organizations giving $1,955,615 in grants to POETS AND WRITERS INC, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POETS AND WRITERS INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $765,895 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POETS AND WRITERS 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.
Play a game about who funds Poets and Writers →
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 48 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