Texas · Nonprofit
PUBLIC POETRY
PUBLIC POETRY (Texas) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $114,833 to it, the largest being Houston Arts Alliance ($103,274). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $68k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $115k
- Net assets
- $9k
What Public Poetry does
Mission
Mission Statement - Public Poetry showcases the enduring power of poetry, conveys poetry's range, relevance and reach throughout the year. We uphold diverse voices, layer multiple genres, encourage collaborative possibilities, and provide new opportunities for poets. We pay poets for their work and initiate collaborative partnerships that enrich the cultural community, delivering poetry to audiences in Houston and beyond.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Library Reading Series - monthly virtual and in-person readings throughout 2025 in partnership with Houston Public Library featuring outstanding poets from across the USA. Includes open mic for all participants, attended by poetry fans via Zoom, recorded for viewing later. The program has been in existence for 14 years and can be found on the Houston Public Library events page. https://houstonlibrary.libcal.com/calendar/events and https://www.publicpoetry.org/readingseries/
$9,306 spentof which $2,700 as grants16% of program spendingREELPoetry - in its 7th season as an international poetry festival, is a hybrid, juried, curated event showcasing artists who work at the intersection of poetry and video or film. It includes juried submissions, commissioned collaborations, invited curators/presenters, ASL poets, workshops, dance performances, panels and networking over 7 days. In person events take place in Houston, Texas at the University of St Thomas. https://www.publicpoetry.org/reelpoetry/
$47,830 spentof which $5,500 as grants84% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $57,136.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2024 to 2025, from $3k to $9k (+257%).
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.
93% of PUBLIC POETRY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Arjumand Mubaraack
Membership Chairman and Board Member
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $11k → $12k.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 PUBLIC POETRY’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
PUBLIC POETRY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 90% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
90% 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 PUBLIC POETRY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 90% · 2018 100% · 2020 98% · 2021 99% · 2022 99% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
Where its funders are
91% of PUBLIC POETRY's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $359 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
PUBLIC POETRY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Government funding PUBLIC POETRY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $13k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$13k
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 PUBLIC POETRY
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PUBLIC POETRY: 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 PUBLIC POETRY?
- PUBLIC POETRY (Texas) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $114,833 to it, the largest being Houston Arts Alliance ($103,274). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC POETRY have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $114,833 in grants to PUBLIC POETRY, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC POETRY?
- Houston Arts Alliance is the largest funder on record, with $103,274 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC POETRY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Public Poetry →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 4 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