Connecticut · Nonprofit
RaiseFashion Inc
RaiseFashion Inc (Connecticut) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $461,285 to it, the largest being The VF Foundation ($200,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $765k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $461k
- Net assets
- $218k
What RaiseFashion Inc does
Mission
Focusing on the opportunity and responsibility of workers in the fashion world to cultivate a more diverse industry, one that actively promotes and fosters black-owned businesses.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Mentorship Program: To provide mentorship to Bipoc-Founded brands through our brand fellowship program. Through the fellowship program we distribute grants to brands for marginalized communities to help them scale their businesses.
$196,727 spentof which $175,000 as grants54% of program spendingInternship Program: To provide intership opportunities to students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). The program is managed in partnership with the Anti Racism Fund. Students are placed into internships in the fashion industry fields such as marketing and communication, wholesale, logistics, production, and buying. Students receive stipends for living expenses from the Anti Racism Fund in order to help them offset costs associated with living in New York and Los Angeles, where the internships are located. Students are provided a mentor in their field to support them through their experience. Virtual seminars are conducted around job preparation, interview skills, and career path mapping.
$42,900 spentof which $42,900 as grants12% of program spendingSupports emerging designers, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, during major fashion week events. It usually includes showcases, presentations, and networking opportunities that help designers gain visibility with buyers, press, and industry leaders.
$92,719 spent26% of program spendingAdvisory Network: volunteer group of fashion industry professionals who offer free guidance to emerging designers. February Inclusivity: event that focuses on equity and inclusion in teh fashion industry.
$30,916 spent9% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $363,262.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $105k to $218k (+109%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 5 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
Felita Harris
Executive Director
Board chair
Melisa Goldie
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $150k → $10k.
5 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% 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 RaiseFashion Inc’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
RaiseFashion Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 43% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
54% 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 RaiseFashion Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.
“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
54% of RaiseFashion 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 $210k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Connecticut, across 2 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $251k 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.
Organizations like RaiseFashion 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 Connecticut
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
0%
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 RaiseFashion 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 RaiseFashion Inc?
- RaiseFashion Inc (Connecticut) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $461,285 to it, the largest being The VF Foundation ($200,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does RaiseFashion Inc have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $461,285 in grants to RaiseFashion Inc, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RaiseFashion Inc?
- The VF Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RaiseFashion Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Connecticut. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 7 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