Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
SPELLS WRITING LAB INC
SPELLS WRITING LAB INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $61,797 to it, the largest being THE PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL FUND INC ($60,597). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $98k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $62k
- Net assets
- $34k
What Spells Writing Lab Inc does
Mission
Children's Literacy and Creative Writing
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
In school and after school virtual or in person programming. Program director, interns and volunteers assist students with writing skills on an individual or group basis throughout the year. Benefits 3-90 students per school day ages 7-17
$49,530 spentof which $31,250 as grants62% of program spendingWriting intensive summer camp broken down into 5-6 individual week sessions benefiting 20-30 children ages 7-17
$30,930 spentof which $8,750 as grants38% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $80,460.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $29k to $38k (+30%).
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.
39% of SPELLS WRITING LAB INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (65% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Chief executive
Steven Wittenberg
Executive Director/Treasurer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $13k → $12k.
1 of 5 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 SPELLS WRITING LAB 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
SPELLS WRITING LAB INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 98% 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
99% 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 SPELLS WRITING LAB INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 99% · 2018 100% · 2020 88% · 2021 99% · 2022 99% · 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
99% of SPELLS WRITING LAB INC's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $325 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
SPELLS WRITING LAB INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 21,859 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 21,859 education nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like SPELLS WRITING LAB 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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SPELLS WRITING LAB 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 SPELLS WRITING LAB INC?
- SPELLS WRITING LAB INC (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $61,797 to it, the largest being THE PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL FUND INC ($60,597). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SPELLS WRITING LAB INC have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $61,797 in grants to SPELLS WRITING LAB INC, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SPELLS WRITING LAB INC?
- THE PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $60,597 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SPELLS WRITING LAB INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 Spells Writing Lab →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 5 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