New York · Nonprofit
THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC
THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC (New York) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $47,574,320 to it, the largest being DOLLAR GENERAL LITERACY FOUNDATION ($10,828,266). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $79M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $48M
- Net assets
- $88M
What The Advertising Council Inc does
Mission
The ad council is the nation's leading nonprofit public service communications organization, convening the best storytellers to develop largescale, researchdriven campaigns that educate, unite and uplift - raising awareness, shifting attitudes and driving behavior change on the nation's most pressing social issues. Campaigns are nonpartisan and do not support or oppose candidates, parties, or electoral outcomes. The organization does not act as a conduit for political or non-charitable activity; campaign funds are controlled and used for approved charitable program purposes. No funds, domestic or foreign, are used for political campaign intervention or to influence elections.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The ad council conducts nonpartisan, research-based public service communications in furtherance of its charitable and educational purposes. The organization does not participate in political campaign activity, does not support or oppose candidates or political parties, and does not use funds to influence elections. Contributions, grants, government-supported funding, and donated media are used solely for charitable program purposes and are subject to organizational review, financial controls, and applicable exempt-organization requirements. Program expenditures are directly tied to campaign development, production, distribution, analytics, and educational outreach. [see continuation on schedule o]
$53,800,607 spent$37,671,410 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $53,800,607.
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.
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 $58M to $108M (+86%).
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: 2020 3% · 2021 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 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
Lisa E Sherman
President and CEO
Board chair
Tara Walpert Levy
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $1.6M → $8.8M.
10 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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: $5.2M from 14 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Ihc Health Services Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC raised.
From the IRS filings of THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
37% 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 THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 84% · 2018 73% · 2019 72% · 2020 43% · 2021 20% · 2022 59% · 2023 57% — 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
17% of THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 41% 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
THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.
Government funding THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $112.3M on record.
- Department of Transportation$62.9M
- Department of Agriculture$22.9M
- Department of Veterans Affairs$12.7M
- Department of Homeland Security$11.2M
- Executive Office of the President$2.6M
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 THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL 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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL 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 THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC?
- THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC (New York) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $47,574,320 to it, the largest being DOLLAR GENERAL LITERACY FOUNDATION ($10,828,266). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $47,574,320 in grants to THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL INC?
- DOLLAR GENERAL LITERACY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $10,828,266 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE ADVERTISING COUNCIL 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.
Play a game about who funds Advertising Council →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 46 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