Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE CREATIVE LADDER
THE CREATIVE LADDER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $145,000 to it, the largest being THE NATHAN CUMMINGS FOUNDATION INC ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $145k
- Net assets
- $906k
What The Creative Ladder does
Mission
The Creative Ladder strives to connect, inspire, and elevate an inclusive new generation of creative industry leaders. The organization works to build stronger, more resilient creative workforces by developing, connecting, and retaining rising talent by providing leadership training, mentorship, networking opportunities, and career development resources to thrive in creative industries.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Seminars and workshopsthrough both in-person events and virtual opportunities open to all, The Creative Ladder connects emerging professionals with inspiring creative leaders via intentional programming on topics such as creative industry skills, leadership development, and wellbeing. Leadership developmentThe Creative Ladder's fully virtual leadership academy, rising leaders academy, provides 6 months of immensely valuable lesson plans, interactive discussions, and access to industry experts for rising creative professionals who aspire to be leaders in their industries.peer and diversity networkswe create opportunities for rising leaders to learn and form professional connections with The Creative Ladder supporters at industry conferences, joint events and activations.the organization received donated professional services and speaker fees in support of the organization's programs and events total value of these services is $66,500 which is not reflected in the financial statements of the form 990.
$585,255 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $585,255.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $165k to $1.5M (+805%).
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.
98% of THE CREATIVE LADDER’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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
Dionna Dorsey
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Nancy Reyes
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 CREATIVE LADDER’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
THE CREATIVE LADDER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder 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 THE CREATIVE LADDER.
“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
THE CREATIVE LADDER draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 3 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8k 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
THE CREATIVE LADDER has grown faster than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like THE CREATIVE LADDER
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
51% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE CREATIVE LADDER: 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 CREATIVE LADDER?
- THE CREATIVE LADDER (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $145,000 to it, the largest being THE NATHAN CUMMINGS FOUNDATION INC ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE CREATIVE LADDER have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $145,000 in grants to THE CREATIVE LADDER.
- Who is the largest funder of THE CREATIVE LADDER?
- THE NATHAN CUMMINGS FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE CREATIVE LADDER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 2022–2025), and the filings of 4 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