Texas · Nonprofit
THE TELLING PROJECT
THE TELLING PROJECT (Texas) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $145,000 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($100,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2020
- $14k
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $145k
- Net assets
- $54k
What The Telling Project does
Mission
The Telling Project is dedicated to producing Telling, an innovative theatrical performance in which veterans and their immediate family members, after extensive interview, performance training and rehearsal, stage the 'telling' of their stories of life and the military to their communities. The Telling Project also produces documentary films which address and arise from the work being done in the staged productions. The Telling Project is a response to several critical issues: among these are widespread public ignorance of the immediate impact of war on individuals and communities difficulties that this ignorance poses to soldiers transitioning back to civilian life and the danger that ignoring the rift between the veteran and civilian populations poses to communities and the nation as a whole. Central to the mission of The Telling Project is that it holds no political view as regards the military or its actions.
As stated on its FY2020 Form 990-EZ.
Program
In 2020, due to the global pandemic, The Telling Project was unable to execute any programs, due to the restrictions on public gatherings. Because this was a gradually unfolding situation, The Telling Project did, in fact, work on several productions, without being able to stage them. The Telling Project scheduled, and re-scheduled, performances of "She Went To War," an all-female combat veteran performance, for both the National Women's Veterans Memorial, and the Veterans Administration Annual Conference. In both cases, these performances were postponed. The Telling Project also planned for a production of "Under the Same Moon: Austin," in Austin, TX, working with a group of Austin area refugees, and in collaboration with Austin Community College. This was cancelled. The Telling Project was in pre-production on a 'Telling,' performance in Naperville, IL, which has been postponed indefinitely; and it was, and remains, in pre-production on "She Came Home," the sequel performance to "She Went to War," in which the same cast of female combat veterans continue their stories of life and the military, this time focusing on the transition out of the military and back to civilian life.
The first program described on its most recent Form 990-EZ.
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 at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2018 to 2019, from $80k to $47k (−41%).
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.
100% of THE TELLING PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2022: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $50k → $10k.
2 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 86% 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 TELLING 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 TELLING PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% 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 TELLING PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 80% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% — broadly stable.
“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
86% of THE TELLING PROJECT'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 $20k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Texas, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $125k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 TELLING PROJECT runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 12,352 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,352 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2020
Organizations like THE TELLING 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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Public support
100%
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 TELLING 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 TELLING PROJECT?
- THE TELLING PROJECT (Texas) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $145,000 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($100,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 86% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE TELLING PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $145,000 in grants to THE TELLING PROJECT, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE TELLING PROJECT?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE TELLING PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Telling Project →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2020 (financials across 2017–2020), 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