Louisiana · Nonprofit
The Literacy Council of Southwest LA
The Literacy Council of Southwest LA (Louisiana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $583,090 to it, the largest being United Way of Southwest Louisiana Inc ($541,590). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $859k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $583k
- Net assets
- $110k
What The Literacy Council of Southwest LA does
Mission
The Literacy Council of Southwest LA is a community-based, non-profit organization that provides instructional programs to improve educational skill levels in Southwest Louisiana and works to increase public awareness of literacy related issues.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
To raise functional literacy levels in Southwest Louisiana through a combination of preventative, remedial, and community awareness programs.
$799,202 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $799,202.
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 2020 to 2021, from $327k to $246k (−25%).
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: 2017 71% · 2018 73% · 2020 85% · 2021 79% · 2022 92% · 2023 89% · 2024 93%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of The Literacy Council of Southwest LA’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Tommeka Semien
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income rose $0 → $17k.
From the IRS filings of The Literacy Council of Southwest LA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 2 of 3 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 Literacy Council of Southwest LA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 93% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 Literacy Council of Southwest LA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 98% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 88% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
93% of The Literacy Council of Southwest LA's grant income comes from Louisiana funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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 Literacy Council of Southwest LA's funding has concentrated — grant income rose while the number of funders held roughly flat.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like The Literacy Council of Southwest LA
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 Louisiana
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
96%
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 Literacy Council of Southwest LA: 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 Literacy Council of Southwest LA?
- The Literacy Council of Southwest LA (Louisiana) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $583,090 to it, the largest being United Way of Southwest Louisiana Inc ($541,590). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Literacy Council of Southwest LA have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $583,090 in grants to The Literacy Council of Southwest LA, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Literacy Council of Southwest LA?
- United Way of Southwest Louisiana Inc is the largest funder on record, with $541,590 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Literacy Council of Southwest LA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Louisiana. 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 Literacy Council of Southwest LA →
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 3 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