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Vermont · Nonprofit

Root Social Justice Center Inc

Root Social Justice Center Inc (Vermont) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,127,056 to it, the largest being NELLIE MAE EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ($469,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$419k
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$1.1M
Net assets
$519k
9/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 71%
01What it does

What Root Social Justice Center Inc does

Mission

The Root Social Justice Center is a Vermont based, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color BIPOC led racial justice organization centering blackness. The Root prioritizes BIPOC people and their communities by shifting resources to BIPOC for leadership, connection, healing, education and the arts and supports BIPOC led racial justice movement work.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Youth 4 Change Youth 4 Change is a youth-led program based in anti racist principles working to dismantle white supremacy and other harmful structures and systems. Youth leaders of Y4C provide peer support to shift power, build leadership and develop voice throughout Youth communities most impacted by injustices we face today.

  2. Program Service Expenses 0, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 Families United Families United is a peer support group for people/families who have been impacted by the child welfare systems and want to contribute to systemic and institutional changes. Members will share experiences, build relationships, discuss resources, and organize to influence change in the child welfare system, family court/law and other legislative systems. Program Service Expenses 0, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 Soul Food Sunday Soul Food Sunday is an intergenerational affinity space for Black, Indigenous, People of Color BIPOC, non-white folx in Vermont and visiting the Brattleboro area to gather to share our food in a potluck style, our cultures, build relationships, celebrate ourselves and heal. Program Service Expenses 0, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 0 Healing in Practice Healing in Practice is a collaborative multi-racial hangout by the Roots and our Racial Accountability Partners from Lost River Racial Justice. We intentionally create space for forming and strengthening multi-racial relationships and healing for our collective liberation. Program Service Expenses 133,587, Grants and…

    $133,587 spent
    100% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $133,587.

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 ($415k) Expenses 100 ($204k) Net assets 100 ($268k)2021 Revenue 104 ($430k) Expenses 115 ($234k) Net assets 152 ($407k)2022 Revenue 76 ($314k) Expenses 124 ($252k) Net assets 175 ($469k)2023 Revenue 110 ($456k) Expenses 132 ($268k) Net assets 245 ($656k)2024 Revenue 75 ($310k) Expenses 222 ($453k) Net assets 246 ($659k)2025 Revenue 101 ($419k) Expenses 257 ($523k) Net assets 194 ($519k)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (101)Expenses (257)Net assets (194)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 2022 to 2023, from $475k to $656k (+38%).

$268k
$407k
$475k
$656k
$659k
$519k
202020212022202320242025
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
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 0% · 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

97% of Root Social Justice Center Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (99% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,984 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$211k
’20
$196k
’21
$62k
’22
$188k
’23
−$143k
’24
−$104k
’25
12
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.

Chief executive

Shela Linton

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed366687
Joined·+6+0+0+6+0
No longer listed·30041
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $15k → $191k.

6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 Root Social Justice Center 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

Root Social Justice Center Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 73%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders 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 Root Social Justice Center Inc.

42%
largest funder
73%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 51% · 2019 42% · 2020 58% · 2021 72% · 2022 50% · 2023 53% — 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

44% of Root Social Justice Center Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.

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

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

Root Social Justice Center Inc draws 73% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 5 states in all.

VT
MA
RI
DE
NC

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

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

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $311k 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Root Social Justice Center Inc is better cushioned than half of the 979 civil rights nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−25% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve11.8mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)0% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 979 civil rights nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025

Government funding Root Social Justice Center Inc receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $446k on record.

State$446k
23
24
25
26
Top programs
  • Rural Health System Improvemnt$240k
  • MCH Planning$206k
  • Trade Show & Events$100

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 Root Social Justice Center 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 Vermont

Nationally

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

26% of spending goes to programs.

Program 26%Management 74%Fundraising 0%

Governance

6
board members
100%
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

VT

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Root Social Justice Center 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.

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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 Root Social Justice Center Inc?
Root Social Justice Center Inc (Vermont) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,127,056 to it, the largest being NELLIE MAE EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ($469,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Root Social Justice Center Inc have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $1,127,056 in grants to Root Social Justice Center Inc, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Root Social Justice Center Inc?
NELLIE MAE EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $469,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Root Social Justice Center Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 Root Social Justice Center →

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 19 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