Washington · Nonprofit
REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT
REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT (Washington) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,137,295 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($662,924). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $3.1M
- Net assets
- $177k
What Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project does
Mission
Our mission is to provide opportunity and a voice for low income and homeless people while taking action for economic social & racial justice. Real change has several program areas: the publication of a weekly newspaper a low-barrier employment program for our vendors who sell the paper and advocacy and organizing for public policies that benefit homeless and low income people.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Editorial: real change publishes an award-winning independent newspaper with a paid circulation of approximately 241,000 papers annually. On average the newspaper is produced by four journalists and fifteen volunteers. The paper is informed by the advice of homeless and formerly homeless people who review the papers content.
$427,042 spent$144,978 earned by the program50% of program spendingVendor services: we run a comprehensive vendor services program that provides a low barrier employment opportunity to homeless and low income poeple every year. Our vendors buy papers from real change for $0.60 each and sell them on the street for $2.00. In 2024-2025 vendors sold over 270,000 papers collectively earning over $540,000. Real change provides a low threshold self-employment opportunity for those who in most cases would face serious challenges finding or maintaining regular employment.
$347,145 spent40% of program spendingAdvocacy & organizing: real change leverages the relationships that exist between our vendors and readers to build a cross class movement for economic and racial justice. We continue to advocate for progressive revenue sources to address the shortage of affordable housing and wrap around services for those experiencing homelessness.
$84,685 spentof which $1,625 as grants10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $858,872.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $303k to $565k (+87%).
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: 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 1% · 2022 13% · 2023 7% · 2024 5% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $103k → $596k.
15 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
74% 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 REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 34% · 2019 46% · 2020 19% · 2021 20% · 2022 19% · 2023 13% — 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
50% of REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
52% of REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT'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 $1.5M that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 14 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $3.1M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,349 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT
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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
67% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
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 REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: 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 REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT?
- REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT (Washington) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,137,295 to it, the largest being SEATTLE FOUNDATION ($662,924). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $3,137,295 in grants to REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT?
- SEATTLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $662,924 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like REAL CHANGE HOMELESS EMPOWERMENT PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 53 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