Rhode Island · Nonprofit
THE EQUITY INSTITUTE
THE EQUITY INSTITUTE (Rhode Island) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,595,213 to it, the largest being THE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,174,638). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $5.6M
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What The Equity Institute does
Mission
Equity institute is an education-based nonprofit organization that partners with schools and communities to develop equitable and sustainable learning environments.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Educator pathway program (epp): a comprehensive initiative designed to support dedicated teaching assistants in pursuing their bachelor's degrees in education and becoming certified teachers. This program provides a structured pathway, resources, and personalized support to help participants achieve their goals. We do this through financial assistance, licensure exam support, and pathway coaching.
$605,402 spentof which $3,042 as grants74% of program spendingEquity learning labs: our trainings use innovative design experiences to increase empathy and promote cultural responsiveness in equitable learning communities. We're reimagining diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings to see people as designers in creating sustainable change for their schools and organizations. Our approach to identifying high-impact solutions is driven both by research and the expertise of the dynamic communities we work with. We aim to activate profound change and know transformation takes steady work. When having conversations about implicit bias, racism, and oppression, we create conditions for generative dialogue and support leaders as they move courageously through self-awareness, analysis, and action. Building collaboration across identities is key; trust has been crucial in unlocking doors leading to new pathways.
$154,803 spent$129,733 earned by the program19% of program spendingMeetups: ei recognizes the power of connection and the importance of building a strong, supportive community for educators. Our meetups are a people-centered initiative focused on education that works at the intersection of all fields to unite, support, and empower people from historically underserved communities.
$60,719 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $820,924.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2019 to 2020, from $231k to $771k (+234%).
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: 2023 11% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of THE EQUITY INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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
Karla Vigil
Executive director
Board chair
Christina Turner
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $200k → $592k.
3 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE’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 EQUITY INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% 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
69% 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 61% · 2021 42% · 2022 31% · 2023 52% — 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
60% of THE EQUITY INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside Rhode Island, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE holds deeper cash reserves 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE
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 Rhode Island
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE: 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 EQUITY INSTITUTE?
- THE EQUITY INSTITUTE (Rhode Island) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,595,213 to it, the largest being THE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,174,638). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE EQUITY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $5,595,213 in grants to THE EQUITY INSTITUTE, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE EQUITY INSTITUTE?
- THE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,174,638 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE EQUITY INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Rhode Island. 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 Equity Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 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