Illinois · Nonprofit
THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES
THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,180,050 to it, the largest being Democracy Fund Inc ($695,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $115k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $1.2M
- Net assets
- $-149180
What The Obsidian Collection Archives does
Mission
Preserving the history of black press. Storing, restoration and enhancement of historical images. Maintaining social media platform to display imagery.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Creation/Renovation of The Obsidian Center website to guide and nuture African American journalists and The Obsidian Collection an archive of African American historical media images. Increased achival capacity and library of archived media igames from various sources. Engaged social media campaign to elevate reach of the collection to potential users. Rezoning and renovation of building to house the Obsidian Center. Engaged with story-telling element for historical context.
$102,434 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $102,434.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $156k to $1.3M (+712%).
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 12% · 2024 35%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income fell $185k → $125k.
1 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES’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 OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 59% of grant income and the top three 96%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
38% 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 OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 67% · 2022 50% · 2023 68% — 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.
Where its funders are
THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES draws 89% of its grant income from funders outside Illinois, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $385k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES's revenue fell 42% between 2018 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES
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 Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
98%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES: 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 OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES?
- THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES (Illinois) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,180,050 to it, the largest being Democracy Fund Inc ($695,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $1,180,050 in grants to THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES?
- Democracy Fund Inc is the largest funder on record, with $695,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION ARCHIVES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. 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 Obsidian Collection Archives →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 6 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