Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
The Defiant Requiem Foundation
The Defiant Requiem Foundation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,711,177 to it, the largest being THE HILLSIDE FOUNDATION INC ($1,750,882). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $319k
What The Defiant Requiem Foundation does
Mission
Mission of the Foundation: (i) To confront contemporary challenges, including increased Holocaust ignorance, Holocaust denial, and antisemitism by performing Foundations hallmark concert performance, Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezn; its sister concert, Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezn Composer; its Emmy-nominated documentary film, Defiant Requiem; along with comprehensive curriculum modules that are designed to frame and enhance Holocaust education, all of which use the courage and cultural resistance of Rafael Schchter and his fellow prisoners to show why the Holocaust must never be forgotten. (ii) Raising awareness and understanding of the dangers of antisemitism, Holocaust ignorance and denial through various literary, educational, and artistic activities such as original performance art increasingly on college campuses with student musicians and singers documentary film, and educational materials geared for middle and high school students, the Foundation offers a unique a
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Holocaust Education program centered on Terezin, including the the Defiant Requiem film curriculum guide and the University Residency Project was developed by staff and educational consultants to The Defiant Requiem Foundation and peer-reviewed by a curriculum review panel composed of private, public, and parochial teachers from the DC/MD area. The program is maintained online and is comprised of lesson plans and supplemental materials for teachers. Cash promises to give are restricted to the expenses of the online tools, educators, and professionals required to maintain this program.
$333,875 spentof which $1,000 as grants50% of program spendingThe signature concert of The Defiant Requiem Foundation, Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezn, tells the story of the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezn) during World War II who performed Verdis Requiem while experiencing the depths of human degradation. Tickets are sold to the general public below cost and not advertised as a fundraising event. However, certain donors are made aware of the timing and location of these performances and often include donations when purchasing their tickets.
$248,951 spent$6,408 earned by the program37% of program spendingFoundation established The University Residency Project, a grant program that provides up to $25,000 to qualifying colleges and universities to present the concert-drama Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin on campus with student performers.
$82,871 spent12% of program spendingThe Defiant Requiem Foundation collaborated with Partisan Pictures to produce Defiant Requiem,a feature-length documentary film, conceived by Foundation President and Founder, Murry Sidlin. The film was broadcast nationwide on PBS in the spring of 2013, on BBC4 in the United Kingdom in early 2014, and on France Tlvisions in May 2015. In 2014 Defiant Requiem was nominated for two News and Documentary Emmy Awards: Outstanding Historical Documentary Long Form and Outstanding Writing.The Foundation continues to distibute the documentary, and also allows other organizations to host film screenings. Cash promises to give are restricted to payment of the cost of production, exploitation and dissemination of the documentary in major media and educational outlets worldwide.
$1,123 spent$761 earned by the program0% of program spendingThe Rafael Schachter Institute Program achieved raising awareness of the history of the concentration camp Terezin in the Czech Republic. The services provided were sponsorship of literary, educational, and artistic activities in connection with the performance of the musical piece Verdi Requiem.
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $666,820.
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.
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 $796k to $470k (−41%).
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 11% · 2021 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
72% of The Defiant Requiem Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 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.
Board chair
Hon Stuart Eizenstat
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 9 funders, grant income fell $554k → $175k.
7 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 Defiant Requiem Foundation’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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 Defiant Requiem Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 80%; 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 90% · 2018 96% · 2019 90% · 2020 66% · 2021 27% · 2022 19% · 2023 37% — 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
45% of The Defiant Requiem Foundation's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
75% of The Defiant Requiem Foundation's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $372k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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.
Against its field
The Defiant Requiem Foundation receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2.7M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like The Defiant Requiem Foundation
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
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Defiant Requiem Foundation: 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 Defiant Requiem Foundation?
- The Defiant Requiem Foundation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,711,177 to it, the largest being THE HILLSIDE FOUNDATION INC ($1,750,882). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Defiant Requiem Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $2,711,177 in grants to The Defiant Requiem Foundation, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Defiant Requiem Foundation?
- THE HILLSIDE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,750,882 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Defiant Requiem Foundation 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.
Play a game about who funds Defiant Requiem →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 34 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