New York · Nonprofit
Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality
Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (New York) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,836,598 to it, the largest being STEPHEN M ROSS FOUNDATION ($1,268,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 22
- Grants received
- $2.8M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality does
Mission
RISE is a nonprofit organization founded in 2015 that uses the power of sports to improve race relations and promote social progress. Through collaboration with professional sports leagues, athletes, educators, and media, RISE works to foster understanding, respect, and equality in society.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Promote racial equality public awareness campaigns and educational programming with high schools, collegiate and community athlete education and leadership programs.
$5,011,074 spentof which $173,500 as grants$5,000 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,011,074.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.0M to $12M (+202%).
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
Diahann Billings-Burford
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 6 funders, grant income fell $200k → $128k.
6 of 22 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $10k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Buffalo Bills Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality raised.
From the IRS filings of Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality’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
Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% 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 Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 82% · 2019 100% · 2020 67% · 2021 100% · 2022 83% · 2023 31% — 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
40% of Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality draws 70% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $83k 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.
Against its field
Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality is better cushioned than half of the 2,728 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,728 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality
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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
38%
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 Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality: 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 Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality?
- Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (New York) receives grants from 22 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,836,598 to it, the largest being STEPHEN M ROSS FOUNDATION ($1,268,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality have?
- IRS filings report 22 organizations giving $2,836,598 in grants to Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality?
- STEPHEN M ROSS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,268,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 22 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