New York · Nonprofit
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC (New York) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $50,668,428 to it, the largest being ENLIGHT FOUNDATION ($9,020,150). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $8.7M
- Funders on record
- 59
- Grants received
- $51M
- Net assets
- $8.2M
What Solutions Journalism Network Inc does
Mission
Define, legitimize and spread "solutions journalism" - rigorous, unbiased reporting about credible responses to social problems by establishing solutions journalism as a core function in journalism, conforming to the highest standards of independence and accuracy.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Systems change - see schedule osystems change:solutions journalism network, inc. (the organization") leverages its curriculum and network to catalyze and sustain the practice of solutions journalism in news organizations, journalism schools, and with individual journalists around the world. The organization cultivates relationships with individual outlets or with groups of outlets, often resulting in high-impact, solutions-focused reporting projects. The organization provides trainings, webinars, and research and editorial consulting support to reporters, producers, and editors. In some cases, the organization offers modest financial support for reporter time and travel, audience engagement activities, or other high-value activities in the form of subgrants.in certain special relationshipscases that promise to generate great visibility, impact, and learningthe organization invests in longer-term, higher-impact newsroom projects. The organization complements its direct service work with news organizations by network mechanisms that seek to advance the adoption of the solutions approach by individual journalists, journalism schools, and newsrooms, including through webinars, online…
$5,835,290 spentof which $933,425 as grants$170,806 earned by the program90% of program spendingSolutions insights lab the organization grows and manages the solutions story tracker, a curated database of solutions journalism stories that have been reviewed, evaluated, and tagged by a team of solutions specialists. Searchable by issue, location, author, newsroom, and strategic insights, this database grew in 2025 to include more than 17,000 stories by 9,700 journalists about responses to problems in 199 countries. The organization also supports university faculty in developing and sharing teaching materials based on solutions journalism stories in a range of disciplines.
$627,703 spent10% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,462,993.
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 2019 to 2020, from $9.5M to $17M (+80%).
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: 2021 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
David N Bornstein
CEO/co-founder
Board chair
Trabian Shorters
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $2.7M → $8.3M.
15 of 59 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 SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 59 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
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
29% 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 SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 26% · 2019 21% · 2020 43% · 2021 18% · 2022 15% · 2023 30% — growing more concentrated.
“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
38% of SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC draws 82% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK 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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 20 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK 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 SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC?
- SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC (New York) receives grants from 59 organizations whose IRS filings report $50,668,428 to it, the largest being ENLIGHT FOUNDATION ($9,020,150). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC have?
- IRS filings report 59 organizations giving $50,668,428 in grants to SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK INC?
- ENLIGHT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $9,020,150 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM NETWORK 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.
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 59 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