New York · Nonprofit
POETS HOUSE INC
POETS HOUSE INC (New York) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,220,298 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($950,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.9M
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $3.2M
- Net assets
- $8.2M
What Poets House Inc does
Mission
A library and meeting place that invites poets and the public into the living tradition of poetry, offering poetry books and resources, literary events and education programs to document the diversity of modern poetry and stimulate dialogue on issues of poetry in culture.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
Poets house library and showcase: in early 2024, after an extended closure due to construction, poets house reopened its library, which offers one of the most comprehensive collections of poetry in the country. A library director and digital archivist were hired and began work to select an integrated library system and digital asset management system, which will expand access to the collection. Over 5,000 items were added, including books for the 29th poets house showcase, presented in early 2025. We welcomed 8,500 visitors. Literary programs: during the first operational year after our reopening, the organization relaunched signature program series including the annual showcse exhibition, passwords, epic voices, and tributes, and introduced new series to meet the needs of the community, including new works, which celebrates new books of poetry, and crosswords, which centers works in translation. We launched a new blog series and expanded social media content. We offered 33 workshops on the craft of poetry and hosted 64 public events. The youth center at poets house: during 2024, a reinvigorated youth program was relaunched with the goal of providing children and teens a way to explore language as a vehicle for the imagination, means of self-expression, and pathway to understanding. The long-standing free class trip program was relaunched as youth encounters with poetry, welcoming 46 class visits from elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the city. We also…
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Poets house library and showcase:in early 2024, after an extended closure due to construction, poets house reopened its library, which offers one of the most comprehensive collections of poetry in the country. A library director and digital archivist were hired and began work to select an integrated library system and digital asset management system, which will expand access to the collection. Over 5,000 items were added, including books for the 29th poets house showcase, presented in early 2025. We welcomed 8,500 visitors.
$661,246 spent50% of program spendingLiterary programs: during the first operational year after our reopening, the organization relaunched signature program series including the annual showcse exhibition, passwords, epic voices, and tributes, and introduced new series to meet the needs of the community, including new works, which celebrates new books of poetry, and crosswords, which centers works in translation. We launched a new blog series and expanded social media content. We offered 33 workshops on the craft of poetry and hosted 64 public events.
$530,618 spent$117,918 earned by the program40% of program spendingThe youth center at poets house: during 2024, a reinvigorated youth program was relaunched with the goal of providing children and teens a way to explore language as a vehicle for the imagination, means of self-expression, and pathway to understanding. The long-standing free class trip program was relaunched as youth encounters with poetry, welcoming 46 class visits from elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the city. We also relaunched the week-long summer intensive workshop for teens.
$132,654 spent10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,324,518.
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 $7.9M to $9.0M (+14%).
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 21% · 2018 10% · 2019 14% · 2020 7% · 2021 13% · 2022 21% · 2023 51% · 2024 8%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of POETS HOUSE 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. 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
Rob Arnold
Executive director
Board chair
Robert Kissane
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 24 funders to 14 funders, grant income fell $402k → $138k.
8 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 HOUSE INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 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 HOUSE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% 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 29% · 2018 27% · 2019 19% · 2020 57% · 2021 29% · 2022 31% · 2023 24% — 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
33% of POETS HOUSE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
71% of POETS HOUSE INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $432k 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.
Against its field
POETS HOUSE INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding POETS HOUSE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $493k on record.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$373k
- National Endowment for the Arts$120k
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 HOUSE 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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POETS HOUSE 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 HOUSE INC?
- POETS HOUSE INC (New York) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,220,298 to it, the largest being THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION ($950,000). 35 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POETS HOUSE INC have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $3,220,298 in grants to POETS HOUSE INC, 35 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POETS HOUSE INC?
- THE ANDREW W MELLON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $950,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POETS HOUSE 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 House →
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 62 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