Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE CONVERSATION US INC
THE CONVERSATION US INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,212,693 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($30,767,148). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
THE CONVERSATION US INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,681 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,681 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- American Council of Learned Societiesshared funders
- John Brown Cook Foundationportfolio match
- Fund for Investigative Journalism Incportfolio match
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.
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 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).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
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
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; 51% 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 CONVERSATION US INC draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 15 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 43 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- American Council of Learned Societiesshared fundersNY · backs 122 organizations that share your funders
- John Brown Cook Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Fund for Investigative Journalism Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- American Journalism Project Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Fund for Constitutional Governmentportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Solutions Journalism Network Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Henkes Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Charles Koch Instituteportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Local Media Associationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pro Publica Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Schumann Media Center Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Driscoll Family Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like THE CONVERSATION US INC
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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
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.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. 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 $36,212,693 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($30,767,148). 22 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 $36,212,693 in grants to THE CONVERSATION US INC, 22 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 43funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing