New York · Nonprofit
THE SOMO PROJECT
THE SOMO PROJECT (New York) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $730,151 to it, the largest being FOLLOW YOUR DREAM FOUNDATION INC ($250,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.1M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $730k
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What The Somo Project does
Mission
The Somo Project provides training, mentorship and capital to impact entrepreneurs building businesses out of low-income urban areas.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Business development services - digisomo: self-paced learning management system - training for entrepreneurs in marginalized communities: through somo academy, our training program, somo focuses on entrepreneurs from low-income backgrounds (including refugee camps) building businesses with the potential for job creation. Somo has already developed content specially focused on specific businesses, for example, green and social businesses implemented as part of this program. The training is tailored to the needs of each entrepreneur and driven by the market research they conduct with our assistance, starting with problem-solving and ideation, encompassing market research, business planning, financial modeling and digital literacy, and finishing with capitalizing a business and a presentation to volunteer judges by each entrepreneur. Acceleration: somo leads on programme approach to business acceleration for targeted entrepreneurs. Somo's acceleration programme allows msmes to leverage on the acquired knowledge and skills from digisomo and somo academy, and adopt new business practices to generate more revenue, have access to better financing, create more quality jobs across the…
$1,101,943 spentof which $41,812 as grants$115,059 earned by the program100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,101,943.
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 $997k to $1.4M (+43%).
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: 2019 99% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of THE SOMO PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Amelia Hopkins Phillips
CEO
Board chair
Edel Were
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $250 → $217k.
4 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 SOMO PROJECT’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 SOMO PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
93% 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 SOMO PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 81% · 2019 93% · 2020 63% · 2021 77% · 2022 82% · 2023 69% — 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
33% of THE SOMO PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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 SOMO PROJECT's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $293k 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.
Against its field
THE SOMO PROJECT holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,607 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,607 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like THE SOMO PROJECT
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
50%
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 SOMO PROJECT: 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 SOMO PROJECT?
- THE SOMO PROJECT (New York) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $730,151 to it, the largest being FOLLOW YOUR DREAM FOUNDATION INC ($250,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE SOMO PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $730,151 in grants to THE SOMO PROJECT, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE SOMO PROJECT?
- FOLLOW YOUR DREAM FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $250,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE SOMO PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Somo Project →
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 16 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