Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC
THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 159 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,031,907 to it, the largest being JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION ($7,050,000). 72 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 159
- Grants received
- $42M
- Net assets
- $12M
What The Groundtruth Project Inc does
Mission
The groundtruth project, inc. (the organization), a nonprofit corporation, was founded to restore journalism from the ground up by supporting the next generation of journalists through field reporting that serves under-covered corners of the united states and the world. The organization focuses on training and developing the craft of journalism and the power of accountability reporting. While meeting the challenges of communicating fair, trusted news in an age where it sometimes feels truth itself is under attack, the organization seeks to support on-the-ground journalism that enlightens and informs with a spirit of public service.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organization's programs build an engaged community around impactful journalism and powerful storytelling by a new generation, while supporting their careers as fellows, corps members and alumni. Since incorporation on august 8, 2012, the organization has supported more than 800 emerging journalists through its flagship programs report for america and report for the world.
$7,995,178 spentof which $3,509,931 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $7,995,178.
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 2023 to 2024, from $6.0M to $12M (+103%).
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: 2022 4% · 2023 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (13% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Joanne Heyman
Director & chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 44 funders, grant income rose $546k → $7.4M.
52 of 159 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 159 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 GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
48% 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 GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 15% · 2019 25% · 2020 24% · 2021 14% · 2022 16% · 2023 31% — 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
24% of THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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 GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 29 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $18M arriving through sponsors registered in 27 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 GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 441 employment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 441 employment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT 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
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
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
- Stichting Report for the World (Europe) · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT 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. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC?
- THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 159 organizations whose IRS filings report $42,031,907 to it, the largest being JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION ($7,050,000). 72 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC have?
- IRS filings report 159 organizations giving $42,031,907 in grants to THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC, 72 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC?
- JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $7,050,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 159 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