New York · Nonprofit
REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC
REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC (New York) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,534,481 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,072,900). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.9M
- Funders on record
- 52
- Grants received
- $9.5M
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Reel Stories Teen Filmmaking Inc does
Mission
Reel works mentors, inspires and empowers underserved nyc youth to share their stories through filmmaking, creating a springboard to successful careers in media and beyond.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Reel works' after school programs provide intensive, year-round workshops for high school and young adult filmmakers who are paired 1:1 with professional filmmaker-mentors to tell their stories and have their voices heard through powerful, original short documentaries and narrative films. Over 300 youth travel from partner schools across brooklyn to reel works' filmmaking lab near downtown brooklyn to build a community of active learners and media makers whose work has been seen by tens of millions of viewers worldwide since reel works' founding in 2001.
$1,181,744 spent24% of program spendingReel works in schools brings reel works' award-winning workshops into middle and high schools across underserved neighborhoods in brooklyn, queens and the bronx. Reel works partners with educators to provide free after school filmmaking programs that celebrate and elevate student voices in their communities.
$643,706 spent$101,012 earned by the program13% of program spendingMediamkrs is a workforce development program that partners with media companies, educational institutions, government agencies and labor unions to train, credential and prepare young new yorkers for careers in media and entertainment. Our career exploration program places high school and college students into paid internships at media companies across nyc. Our career development program trains rising young professionals for careers in production and post production
$2,739,088 spent$795,312 earned by the program55% of program spendingThe studio at reel works is a youth-led production company that teaches professional and entrepeneurial skills to youth producers as they create original videos for clients. Twenty youths participate annually and are paid minimum wage for 10-15 hours per week and receive ongoing training and build professional resumes.
$438,292 spent$154,738 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,002,830.
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 2023 to 2024, from $1.8M to $5.1M (+176%).
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: 2017 29% · 2018 35% · 2019 22% · 2020 20% · 2021 31% · 2022 24% · 2023 28% · 2024 17% · 2025 33%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Board chair
Alexis Tucker
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 28 funders, grant income rose $338k → $1.3M.
11 of 52 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 52 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
REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
44% 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 REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 58% · 2019 30% · 2020 23% · 2021 26% · 2022 25% · 2023 14% — 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 REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
71% of REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC has grown faster than half of the 1,152 youth development nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,152 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $220k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$220k
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 REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
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 REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING 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 REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC?
- REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC (New York) receives grants from 52 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,534,481 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,072,900). 34 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC have?
- IRS filings report 52 organizations giving $9,534,481 in grants to REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC, 34 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,072,900 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like REEL STORIES TEEN FILMMAKING 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 Reel Stories Teen Filmmaking →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 52 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