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Massachusetts · Nonprofit

THE CONVERSATION US INC

THE CONVERSATION US INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,345,728 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($30,767,148). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$11M
Funders on record
43
Grants received
$36M
Net assets
$2.0M
23/43 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What The Conversation US Inc does

Mission

Expert knowledge for the public good

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. To create an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered directly to the public.

    $5,138,105 spent$5,239,946 earned by the program
    48% of program spending
  2. The organization acted as a fiscal sponsor of a global religion journalism collaboration and a philanthropy journalism collaboration. These projects will educate the general public and improve the understanding of religion and philanthropy by the projects broadly distributed and well researched journalistic articles.

    $5,485,779 spentof which $4,789,815 as grants$5,923,448 earned by the program
    52% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,623,884.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($3.6M) Expenses 100 ($2.3M) Net assets 100 ($2.2M)2018 Revenue 65 ($2.3M) Expenses 131 ($3.1M) Net assets 66 ($1.5M)2019 Revenue 69 ($2.5M) Expenses 151 ($3.6M) Net assets 18 ($393k)2020 Revenue 138 ($4.9M) Expenses 161 ($3.8M) Net assets 71 ($1.6M)2021 Revenue 308 ($11M) Expenses 453 ($11M) Net assets 90 ($2.0M)2022 Revenue 111 ($4.0M) Expenses 215 ($5.0M) Net assets 42 ($933k)2023 Revenue 414 ($15M) Expenses 591 ($14M) Net assets 87 ($1.9M)2024 Revenue 232 ($8.3M) Expenses 335 ($7.9M) Net assets 108 ($2.4M)2025 Revenue 311 ($11M) Expenses 490 ($12M) Net assets 92 ($2.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (311)Expenses (490)Net assets (92)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $3.4M to $8.9M (+159%).

$2.7M
$2.2M
$1.4M
$2.9M
$7.3M
$3.4M
$8.9M
$6.5M
$6.9M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 6% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

71% of THE CONVERSATION US INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,254 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.2M
’17
−$752k
’18
−$1.1M
’19
$1.2M
’20
$418k
’21
−$1.0M
’22
$994k
’23
$453k
’24
−$349k
’25
6.4
months of
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.

Board chair

Benjamin Taylor

Chair/director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed91418161716172020
Joined·+6+7+1+2+1+2+4+3
No longer listed·13312113
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $434k → $3.5M.

10 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 THE CONVERSATION US INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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 CONVERSATION US INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 85% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

85%
largest funder
90%
top three
~1
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 52% · 2019 79% · 2020 97% · 2021 71% · 2022 92% · 2023 79% — 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

29% of THE CONVERSATION US INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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 CONVERSATION US INC draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 14 states in all.

WA
IL
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
NJ
CA
CO
DE
DC
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Massachusetts out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.4M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE CONVERSATION US INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−3% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve6.4mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)15% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like THE CONVERSATION US 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 Massachusetts

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

92% of spending goes to programs.

Program 92%Management 4%Fundraising 4%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

73%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

MA

Part of a family of 1 related entity

  • The Conversation Media Group · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CONVERSATION US 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.

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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 CONVERSATION US INC?
THE CONVERSATION US INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,345,728 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($30,767,148). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE CONVERSATION US INC have?
IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $36,345,728 in grants to THE CONVERSATION US INC, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE CONVERSATION US INC?
LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $30,767,148 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE CONVERSATION US INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 43 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing