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New York · Nonprofit

Real News Project Inc

Real News Project Inc (New York) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,312,068 to it, the largest being BLUESTEIN FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($340,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$476k
Funders on record
18
Grants received
$1.3M
Net assets
$152k
10/18 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 50%
01What it does

What Real News Project Inc does

Mission

Our mission is to offer unique insight and important context on national and international issues. Our continuing promise is unbiased content provided in an advertisement-free environment at no charge to the public.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. As pioneers in the area of election integrity we provide in-depth coverage of 21st century voter suppression. We produce essential voting guides and books detailing the functionality of digital voting machines. We remain a trusted information resource for the public in a critical area of democracy.

    $0 spent
  2. We create and maintain innovative educational programs training a new generation of journalists with our Mentor-Apprentice program. The program pairs dozens of aspiring writers and news reporters with seasoned veteran journalists annually. This collaboration provides cost-free post-graduate level training in news and feature writing deep investigative research and unbiased navigation of special interest agendas.

    $0 spent
  3. We devote considerable effort to the research of innovative policies and procedures to share with news rooms and fellow nonprofit organizations. At a time when public attention is more fragmented than ever we develop ways to render complex issues comprehensible and interesting to ensure that the most consequential matters get a fair public hearing.

    $0 spent
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $0 spent

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $0.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($330k) Expenses 100 ($431k) Net assets 100 ($143k)2021 Revenue 131 ($431k) Expenses 96 ($415k) Net assets 182 ($260k)2022 Revenue 121 ($399k) Expenses 99 ($425k) Net assets 164 ($234k)2023 Revenue 142 ($467k) Expenses 104 ($450k) Net assets 105 ($151k)2024 Revenue 144 ($476k) Expenses 110 ($475k) Net assets 106 ($152k)
20202021202220232024
Revenue (144)Expenses (110)Net assets (106)Peer revenue range

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 $143k to $260k (+82%).

$143k
$260k
$234k
$151k
$157k
20202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

100% of Real News Project Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 19,547 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 reported years ran a deficit.

−$101k
’20
$16k
’21
−$26k
’22
$16k
’23
$794
’24
4.0
months of
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.

Board chair

Jonathan Larsen

Board Chairman and Treasurer

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

20202021202220232024
Listed66878
Joined·+1+3+0+1
No longer listed·1110
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $145k → $233k.

7 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 News Project 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

Real News Project Inc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left

38% 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 News Project Inc.

26%
largest funder
60%
top three
~7
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 54% · 2019 48% · 2020 43% · 2021 32% · 2022 32% · 2023 46% — 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

23% of Real News Project Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

Real News Project Inc draws 88% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 5 states in all.

NY
MA
NJ
CA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $498k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Real News Project Inc has grown faster than half of the 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin0% · below the median
Months of reserve4.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Real News Project 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

72% of spending goes to programs.

Program 72%Management 26%Fundraising 3%

Governance

8
board members
88%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

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

NY

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Real News Project 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 News Project Inc?
Real News Project Inc (New York) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,312,068 to it, the largest being BLUESTEIN FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($340,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Real News Project Inc have?
IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,312,068 in grants to Real News Project Inc, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Real News Project Inc?
BLUESTEIN FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $340,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Real News Project 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 Real News Project →

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 18 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