Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE LITERACY LAB
THE LITERACY LAB (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 138 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,151,606 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($10,000,250). 91 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.5M
- Funders on record
- 138
- Grants received
- $33M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What The Literacy Lab does
Mission
The Literacy Lab strives to ensure that all people have access to evidence-based literacy development to unlock opportunities for success in school and life.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The Literacy Lab fellowship creates opportunities in the field of education. Literacy lab fellows participate in a year-long, residency-style experience in which they provide evidence-based literacy support to children in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade while receiving robust coaching and professional development and gaining valuable experience. Fellows are paid a competitive hourly wage, and earn a higher education award upon program completion. In 2024-25, the organization served 1,751 students and 110 fellows children in atlanta, ga; baltimore, md; cincinnati, oh; milwaukee, wi; and washington, dc.
$7,650,742 spent$132,962 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program activities, for which reading corps is one, place literacy tutors in schools to give students extra reading support and help them reach key literacy milestones, along with additional literacy programs and services that support the organization's mission.
$3,525 spent0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,654,267.
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 2021 to 2022, from $9.2M to $23M (+154%).
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 47% · 2018 43% · 2019 42% · 2020 49% · 2021 44% · 2022 30% · 2023 58% · 2024 59% · 2025 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of THE LITERACY LAB’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. 3 of the last 9 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
Heather Jenkins
Chief executive officer
Board chair
Donald Walther
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 35 funders to 62 funders, grant income rose $790k → $10.0M.
26 of 138 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 61% 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 LITERACY LAB’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 138 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 LAB has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% 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
72% 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 LAB.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 31% · 2019 38% · 2020 25% · 2021 24% · 2022 45% · 2023 67% — 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.
How long its funders stay
51% of THE LITERACY LAB's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
61% of THE LITERACY LAB's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $13M that is directly attributable, 91% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 25 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $20M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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 LITERACY LAB is better cushioned than half of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE LITERACY LAB receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $17.1M on record — $13.1M federal, $4.0M state.
- Corporation for National and Community Service$13.1M
- MD$2.2M
- MA$1.8M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like THE LITERACY LAB
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
69% 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 LAB: 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 LAB?
- THE LITERACY LAB (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 138 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,151,606 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($10,000,250). 91 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 61% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE LITERACY LAB have?
- IRS filings report 138 organizations giving $33,151,606 in grants to THE LITERACY LAB, 91 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE LITERACY LAB?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $10,000,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE LITERACY LAB 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 Literacy Lab →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 138 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