Ohio · Nonprofit
POWER OF THE PEN
POWER OF THE PEN (Ohio) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $141,711 to it, the largest being HARRY AND VIOLET TURNER 95 CHARITABLE TRUST ($80,002). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2026
- $273k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $142k
- Net assets
- $316k
What Power of the Pen does
Mission
Hold interscholastic writing tournaments for 7th and 8th graders throughout Ohio. We support the teaching of writing in middle schools by providing and encouraging the use of mentor texts, holistic evaluation, small-group writing workshops, and ongoing writing practice that encourages creativity and student choice.
As stated on its FY2026 Form 990.
Program
Hosted 26 district, regional, and state writing tournaments for more than 256 schools across Ohio, with the state tournament held at Ashland University. The highest-quality writing from the season was published in a book that is made available to Power of the Pen teams and teachers to serve as mentor texts for middle school writers.
$231,421 spent$218,344 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $231,421.
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 2020 to 2021, from $88k to $264k (+200%).
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 12% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
20% of POWER OF THE PEN’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (57% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $24k → $29k.
4 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 POWER OF THE PEN’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 8 of 9 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
POWER OF THE PEN leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 67% · 2021 66% · 2022 45% · 2023 55% — 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
60% of POWER OF THE PEN's funders are still giving 2 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
100% of POWER OF THE PEN's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
POWER OF THE PEN holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 625 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 625 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2026
Organizations like POWER OF THE PEN
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 POWER OF THE PEN: 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 POWER OF THE PEN?
- POWER OF THE PEN (Ohio) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $141,711 to it, the largest being HARRY AND VIOLET TURNER 95 CHARITABLE TRUST ($80,002). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POWER OF THE PEN have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $141,711 in grants to POWER OF THE PEN, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POWER OF THE PEN?
- HARRY AND VIOLET TURNER 95 CHARITABLE TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $80,002 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POWER OF THE PEN find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Power of the Pen →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2026 (financials across 2017–2026), and the filings of 9 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