Florida · Nonprofit
Sinister Wisdom Inc
Sinister Wisdom Inc (Florida) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,292 to it, the largest being COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES AND PRESSES ($20,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $181k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $35k
- Net assets
- $148k
What Sinister Wisdom Inc does
Mission
Sinister Wisdom seeks to open, consider and advance the exploration of lesbian community issues, and works to create multicultural, multi-class lesbian space. The organization accomplishes it's mission by publishing a multicultural literary and art journal, and providing outreach and educational programs in support of building vibrant lesbian communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
Sinister Wisdom provides free subscriptions to women in prison and mental institutions; currently, Sinister Wisdom mails about fifteen percent (15%) of each issue of the journal to women in prison and mental institutions.
$82,235 spent96% of program spendingIn 2025, Sinister Wisdom convened the Lesbian Lives 2025 Conference in New York City of scholars, activists, and artists for networking and information sharing in support of outreach and education. Over 700 people were in attendance.
$3,403 spent4% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $85,638.
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 $36k to $79k (+120%).
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.
40% of Sinister Wisdom Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income rose $5 → $16.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 Sinister Wisdom 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
Sinister Wisdom Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
57% 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 Sinister Wisdom Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 94% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
Sinister Wisdom Inc draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Florida, across 2 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $292 arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
Sinister Wisdom Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,634 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Sinister Wisdom 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 Florida
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
94%
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 Sinister Wisdom 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 Sinister Wisdom Inc?
- Sinister Wisdom Inc (Florida) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $35,292 to it, the largest being COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES AND PRESSES ($20,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sinister Wisdom Inc have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $35,292 in grants to Sinister Wisdom Inc, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sinister Wisdom Inc?
- COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES AND PRESSES is the largest funder on record, with $20,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sinister Wisdom Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. 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 Sinister Wisdom →
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 4 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