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Missouri · Nonprofit

THE SEWING LABS

THE SEWING LABS (Missouri) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $745,068 to it, the largest being EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION ($400,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$648k
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$745k
Net assets
$557k
9/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 55%
01What it does

What The Sewing Labs does

Mission

The Sewing Labs is an inclusive and welcoming community teaching thelegacy of sewing for employment, entrepreneurship, and enrichment.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. At The Sewing Labs, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve financial dignity. We create viable, sustainable pathways toward that dignity through the legacy, vocation, and trade of sewing. Our mission is to empower individuals, especially those marginalized or overlooked, by equipping them with practical skills that lead to employment, entrepreneurship, and emotional wellness.workforce development and registered apprenticeshipin response to the growing demand for skilled stitchers, The Sewing Labs has built a direct workforce pipeline for the greater kansas city region. Our flagship sewing salon training program is a registered apprenticeship through both the missouri and u.s. Departments of labor. This 30-week program prepares students to become industrial sewing machine operators, complete with industry certifications and job placement support. In 2024, we served 430 unique students through 13,170 hours of classroom instruction.volunteer engagement and community supportThe Sewing Labs is powered by dedicated volunteers who generously share their time and talents. In 2024, 109 volunteers contributed 3,692 hours in roles ranging from classroom support to…

    $249,859 spent$88,486 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $249,859.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($310k) Expenses 100 ($163k) Net assets 100 ($274k)2020 Revenue 86 ($266k) Expenses 156 ($254k) Net assets 104 ($286k)2021 Revenue 104 ($322k) Expenses 171 ($279k) Net assets 115 ($316k)2022 Revenue 139 ($430k) Expenses 245 ($399k) Net assets 127 ($347k)2023 Revenue 129 ($399k) Expenses 243 ($397k) Net assets 121 ($333k)2024 Revenue 209 ($648k) Expenses 259 ($423k) Net assets 203 ($557k)
201920202021202220232024
Revenue (209)Expenses (259)Net assets (203)Peer revenue range

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 $423k to $678k (+60%).

$274k
$309k
$318k
$350k
$423k
$678k
201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2019 0% · 2021 17% · 2023 33% · 2024 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

94% of THE SEWING LABS’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 24,946 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$146k
’19
$12k
’20
$42k
’21
$31k
’22
$1k
’23
$224k
’24
12
months of
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

Robyn Kerkaert

Executive director and boa

Board chair

Cara Voss

Board president

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.

201920202021202220232024
Listed7689109
Joined·+0+3+2+6+2
No longer listed·11153
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 7 funders, grant income fell $172k → $45k.

3 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 SEWING LABS’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 SEWING LABS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

54%
largest funder
77%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 58% · 2020 87% · 2021 76% · 2022 56% · 2023 34% — 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

50% of THE SEWING LABS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y

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

75% of THE SEWING LABS's grant income comes from Missouri funders.

NY
NV
MO
KS
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Missouri out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $152k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

THE SEWING LABS runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin35% · top quartile
Months of reserve12.1mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)16% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like THE SEWING LABS

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 Missouri

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

59% of spending goes to programs.

Program 59%Management 39%Fundraising 2%

Governance

8
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

99%

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 SEWING LABS: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 SEWING LABS?
THE SEWING LABS (Missouri) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $745,068 to it, the largest being EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION ($400,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE SEWING LABS have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $745,068 in grants to THE SEWING LABS, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE SEWING LABS?
EWING MARION KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE SEWING LABS find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Sewing Labs →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 19 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